THE  LIBRARY- 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 

IN  MEMORY  OF 
EDWIN  CORLE 

PRESENTED  BY 
JEAN  CORLE 


Johnny  Blossom 


TELLEF    S     GRANDMOTHER 


JOHNNY    BLOSSOM 


From  the  Norwegian  of 
DIKKEN  ZWILGMEYER 


TRANSLATED  BY 

EMILIE  POULSSON 

Illustrations  by 
F.  LILEY  YOUNG 


THE    PILGRIM    PRESS 

BOSTON    NEW  YORK    CHICAGO 


COPYRIGHT,  1912 
BY  LUTHER  H.  CARY 

Published,  September,  1912 


THB  •  PLIMPTON  -PR  ESS 

[W-D.O] 
NORWOOD- MASS-U'S -A 


AVING  made  acquaintance  with  Johnny 
Blossom  in  his  native  land  of  Norway 
through  the  stories  about  him  by  Miss 
Dikken  Zwilgmeyer,  the  desire  to  introduce  the 
amusing,  sound-natured  boy  to  American  chil- 
dren has  resulted  in  this  translation. 

Some  liberty  has  been  taken  with  the  original 
text,  chiefly  to  eliminate  circumstances  or  inci- 
dents which  would  not  be  clear  to  child  readers 
in  a  different  environment;  but  I  have  taken 
pains  to  keep  the  translation  faithful  to  the 
original  in  spirit  and  expression,  appreciating 
that  in  these  lies  much  of  the  wholesome  power 
of  the  book. 

Johnny  Blossom  is  not  local  but  universal. 
Interest  in  him  is  not  even  limited  to  boys. 
When  the  book  first  appeared,  a  Norwegian 
reviewer  wrote: 

"Our  most  popular  author  of  books  for  little 
girls  has  this  year  forsaken  them,  and  apparently 
gone  over  to  the  boys,  since  her  book  is  about  a 

[v] 


20353 


, 


vi  PREFACE 

boy;  .  .  .  but  I  have  yet  to  see  the  little  girl 
who  would  not  be  glad  to  read  of  such  a  boy  as 
Johnny  Blossom.  .  .  .  Although  a  genuine  boy, 
he  is  a  right-minded  little  fellow  with  earnest 
childlike  spirit;  and  he  can  never  be  thoroughly 
content  until  he  has  had  his  mother's  full  for- 
giveness when  he  has  been  naughty,  or,  if  he 
has  wronged  any  one,  until  he  has  made 
restitution." 

With  confidence  that  such  a  child  will  be  a 
good  story-book  friend  for  our  children,  and  a 
favorite  with  them  as  he  is  among  his  little 
compatriots,  I  send  Johnny  Blossom  forth  to 
meet  his  welcome. 

EMILIE  POULSSON 
HOPKINTON,  MASS..  1912 


PAGE 

3 

22 
33 
43 
61 


I.    JOHNNY   BLOSSOM'S 
FIGHTING       .     . 
II.    CRAB-FISHING      .... 

III.  A  CREDIT  TO  THE  SCHOOL     ..... 

IV.  AUNT  GRENERTSEN'S  APPLES      .... 
V.    THE  RED  BUOY       ...     ..... 

VI.    JOHNNY  BLOSSOM'S  CHRISTMAS  PRESENTS  .       74 

VII.    A  PRESENT  FROM  UNCLE  ISAAC       .     «     .      86 

VIII.    UNCLE  ISAAC'S  WILL    .......      97 

IX.    ONE  DAY  IN  VACATION     ......     108 

,  X.    TELLEF'S  GRANDMOTHER    .     .     *     .     ,     .     120 
XI.    THE  PET  HORSE      .........     130 

XII.    THE  UMBRELLA  ADVENTURE  .....     141 

XIII.    JOHNNY  BLOSSOM'S  BIRTHDAY  PARTY    .     .     150 


[vii] 


II  lustrations1 


TellePs  Grandmother Frontispiece 

Johnny  Blossom's  Christmas  Presents       .  Facing  page      78 

A  Present  from  Uncle  Isaac 90 

One  Day  in  Vacation 114 


JOHNNY    BLOSSOM 


JOHNNY! 

CHAPTER  I  His    FigfvtifVg 


H!  Everything  was  so  horrid!  That 
stupid  Tellef  Olsen!  Always  boasting 
and  bragging  about  his  muscle  as  if  he 
were  the  only  one  in  the  town  who  had  muscle. 
Well,  anyway,  he  wouldn't  be  coming  around 
here  any  more  to  brag  about  it. 

Johnny  Blossom  thrust  his  arm  out  fiercely 
and  drew  it  slowly  in  again  with  his  teeth  set 
and  his  face  getting  very  red.  Ha!  That  was 
awfully  good  muscle  there,  just  what  muscle 
ought  to  be  —  rounding  up  in  your  arm  and 
as  hard  as  iron  to  feel  of.  How  tired  he  had 
been  of  the  other  boys'  bragging  about  Tellef, 
too.  It  seemed  as  if  they  never  talked  of  any- 
thing else.  That  was  why  he  had  been  out  of 
patience  yesterday.  Well,  he  had  shown  them, 
once  for  all,  who  was  the  strongest. 

My,  oh,  my!  How  he  had  pounded  Tellef! 
But  he  would  really  like  to  know  whether  any 

3 


4  JOHNNY  BLOSSOM 

one  wouldn't  be  a  little  angry  if,  when  he  was 
sitting  on  a  fence  not  thinking  of  a  thing,  some 
one  should  come  and  poke  him  in  the  back  with 
a  long  stick? 

For  that  was  just  the  way  the  trouble  began. 
He  had  been  walking  on  his  tallest  stilts  the 
whole  afternoon — the  stilts  that  were  exactly, 
to  the  dot,  one  yard  fifteen  inches  and  a  half 
tall  —  and  then  had  sat  himself  on  the  fence 
along  the  back  alley.  He  was  facing  the  yard,, 
with  his  back  toward  the  alley,  and  that  dis- 
gusting Olsen  boy  came  past  and  gave  him  a 
dig  in  the  back  with  that  sharp  stick.  Just 
think  of  it!  Wouldn't  anybody  say  it  was 
unbearable  ? 

Like  a  flash,  John  had  slid  down  from  the 
fence  and  rushed  after  Tellef;  and  then  came 
the  fight. 

Gracious!  how  that  boy  had  yelled!  Well, 
a  good  pommeling  was  just  what  he  deserved. 
It  was  rather  a  pity,  though,  that  there  had 
come  a  great  split  in  his  jacket  and  that  his 
fishpole  had  got  broken  to  bits  in  the  fight. 
Even  if  it  hadn't  ever  been  a  good  pole,  it  was 
wonderful  how  much  he  caught  with  it.  He 
had  to  catch  fish  for  his  mother  every  single 
day.  People  said  that  at  Tellefs  house  they  ate 


JOHNNY  BLOSSOM  FIGHTING  5 

fish  for  breakfast,  dinner,  and  supper,  and  that 
they  had  scarcely  anything  else  to  eat.  Ugh! 
That  must  be  tiresome!  There  was  nothing  so 
horrid  when  one  came  home  from  school  very 
hungry,  and  shouted  at  the  kitchen  door 
"What  are  we  going  to  have  for  dinner?" 
as  to  have  Olea  the  cook  say  "Codfish."  And 
think !  That  was  about  all  they  had  to  eat  down 
in  Tellefs  shanty. 

Well,  anyway,  Tellef  had  given  him  an  ugly 
scratch  on  the  cheek.  It  hurt  awfully,  for  it 
was  a  long,  deep  scratch.  Ugh!  But  the  fight 
had  been  a  great  one,  and  Tellef  and  everybody 
knew  now  who  was  the  strongest,  and  all  that 
bragging  about  Tellef's  muscle  was  done  with. 

It  must  be  grand  to  be  so  strong  that  one 
could,  well,  beat  everybody — that  is,  of  course, 
all  the  boys, — if  one  had  a  mind  to  do  it.  Not 
that  he,  Johnny  Blossom,  really  wanted  to 
fight  everybody;  only  to  have  strength  enough 
to  do  it,  if  it  were  necessary.  And  to  be  able 
to  hold  the  heaviest  things  with  your  arm 
stretched  out  straight! 

Every  day  at  home  he  had  a  great  gymnastic 
performance,  holding  a  dining-room  chair  at 
arm's  length.  He  could  do  it  splendidly  now, 
so  lately  he  had  thought  he  would  practise 


6  JOHNNY  BLOSSOM 

holding  his  sisters  up  that  way.  If  he  began 
with  the  littlest  sister  he  might  by  degrees  work 
up  to  the  biggest.  Perhaps  even  so  he  might 
not  be  able  to  manage  Asta  —  she  was  so  fat. 
But  they  were  all  tiresome.  They  screamed 
if  he  merely  touched  them.  Just  think  what 
happened  in  the  dining  room  only  yesterday? 

Without  meaning  the  least  harm,  and  as 
nicely  as  possible,  he  had  taken  Dagny  up  to 
see  whether  he  could  hold  her  two  minutes 
with  his  arm  out  straight  and  stiff.  And  that 
big  child,  who  was  a  whole  year  old,  had 
roared  so  that  they  had  come  rushing  in  from 
every  corner  of  the  house,  even  Father,  from  his 
midday  nap,  with  rumpled  hair  and  angry 
looks.  Oh,  dear!  It  was  horrid.  That  stupid 
child!  People  might  have  understood  that  he 
was  just  trying  his  strength. 

Everything  had  been  disagreeable  all  the  after- 
noon, until  by  and  by  he  happened  to  think 
of  trying  to  dance  a  mazurka  on  his  highest 
stilts.  Doing  that  he  had  fortunately  forgotten 
his  troubles. 

Then  came  TellePs  hitting  him  in  the  back 
and  their  fighting,  with  Tellef,  for  all  his  muscle, 
getting  the  worst  of  it.  Of  course  Mrs.  Dahl, 
who  had  seen  them  fighting,  would  come  and  tell 


JOHNNY  BLOSSOM  FIGHTING  7 

Mother.  Awfully  pleasant  that  would  be !  Oh, 
well,  he  didn't  mind. 

Johnny  Blossom  put  his  hands  in  his  pockets 
and  whistled,  "  Yes,  we  love  our  grand  old  Nor- 
way" loudly  and  shrilly. 

Still,  it  was  perfectly  horrid  that  TellePs  fish- 
pole  had  got  smashed.  That  was  awfully  bad 
luck.  And  his  jacket  torn,  too.  But  how 
could  he  expect  anything  else  when  he  was  so 
horrid  with  his  boasting  and  everything? 

"  Yes,  we  love  our  grand  old  Norway"  Johnny 
Blossom  whistled  again  with  great  vigor. 

Perhaps  he  ought  to  be  looking  after  his  own 
fishing  tackle.  Every  one  was  talking  about 
going  fishing  nowadays  and  he'd  better  see 
whether  his  tackle  was  hanging  where  it  should 
be,  on  the  wall  of  the  wash-house.  William  Holm 
had  done  nothing  at  school  today  but  brag  of 
that  new  fishing  tackle  of  his. 

Not  a  sign  of  Johnny's  was  to  be  seen.  Who 
could  have  been  so  mean  as  to  take  it  away  ?  Of 
course  he  had  put  it  in  its  place.  (A  great  stir- 
ring up  of  things  and  searching  everywhere.) 
Dear!  How  meddlesome  people  were!  Here 
they  had  gone  and  hidden  away  his  fishing  rod. 
Really,  wouldn't  any  one  be  angry? 

Oh!  there  it  hung  by  the  boiler  closet.     But 


8  JOHNNY  BLOSSOM 

what  a  forlorn,  miserable  thing!  He  had  not 
remembered  that  it  was  so  worn  out.  Why, 
it  scarcely  held  together!  It  was  almost  a 
disgrace  to  have  such  shabby  fishing  tackle, 
especially  now  when  William  Holm  had  that 
brand-new  pole  and  Philip  Krag  was  going  to 
get  one  tomorrow.  No,  this  old  thing  would  not 
do.  He  positively  needed  a  new  outfit,  and  that 
meant  that  he  simply  must  have  some  money. 

"  Yes,  we  love"  —  Why,  of  course !  He  would 
go  over  to  Kingthorpe.  It  was  a  long  time  since 
he  had  been  there,  certainly  as  much  as  two 
weeks.  What  a  comfort  it  was  to  have  such  an 
uncle  as  Uncle  Isaac  of  Kingthorpe!  For  one 
thing,  it  sometimes  happened  that  he  made 
you  a  present  of  a  quarter,  and  a  person  was  so 
likely  to  need  a  quarter  —  need  it  badly,  dread- 
fully, as  he,  Johnny  Blossom  himself,  did  today. 

Without  further  delay  off  he  started  on  the  road 
to  Kingthorpe,  but  his  thoughts  were  still  busy. 

Uncle  Isaac  had  not  given  him  anything  the 
last  time  he  was  there,  nor  the  time  before  either, 
so  very  likely  —  Pshaw !  Even  if  you  got  noth- 
ing at  all  from  Uncle  Isaac,  it  was  always  more 
than  pleasant  to  go  to  Kingthorpe.  He  wasn't 
going  there  to  beg  —  far  from  it ;  he  wasn't 
quite  so  mean  as  that. 


JOHNNY  BLOSSOM  FIGHTING  9 

Here  his  steps  lingered  a  little,  but  he  walked 
on  nevertheless. 

Some  things  about  these  visits  were  rather 
tiresome.  Not  exactly  with  Uncle  Isaac,  though 
you  had  to  be  a  bit  careful  with  him,  too;  but 
there  was  that  fussy  housekeeper  of  his,  Miss 
Melling.  One  was  never  sure  which  door  she 
would  poke  her  nose  out  of  and  call:  "Walk 
quietly,  Johnny.  Shut  the  door  softly.  Have 
you  wiped  your  feet  thoroughly,  Johnny  boy?" 

The  idea  of  her  calling  him  Johnny  boy! 
That  was  perfectly  outrageous!  What  right 
had  she  to  call  him  by  that  name  ?  He  had  out- 
grown it  long  ago,  and  no  one  used  it  now  ex- 
cept just  herself.  Here  he  would  be  ten  years 
old  in  a  fortnight,  no,  in  twelve  days  —  or,  to  be 
exact,  twelve  days  and  a  half,  and  so  surely  he 
was  too  old  for  that  baby  name. 

Perhaps  Miss  Melling  could  fly  through  the 
air,  but  he  couldn't;  and  yet  she  seemed  to 
think  that  he  could  come  all  the  way  over  here 
without  getting  his  shoes  muddy!  He  would 
surely  ask  her  today  whether  she  could  fly.  She 
did  not  look  so  very  light! 

All  the  floors  at  Kingthorpe  were  as  shining 
as  a  mirror.  Mother  said  they  were  waxed.  It 
was  a  good  thing  the  floors  at  home  were  not 


io  JOHNNY  BLOSSOM 

waxed,  for  it  would  be  an  awful  job  to  take  care 
of  them.  When  he  and  Asta  played  tag  around 
the  dining-room  table  for  instance  —  my,  oh 
my!  but  there  would  be  a  good  many  scratches 
on  the  floor!  Queer,  that  rich  people  must 
have  every  thing  so  fine!  For  his  part,  he 
thought  such  elegance  was  only  a  bother. 

How  disgusting  about  Tellef's  old  fishing 
tackle!  And  that  his  jacket  should  get  that 
great  split  in  it,  too!  The  pity  about  the  jacket 
was  that  Tellef  hadn't  any  other.  But  all  the 
same,  it  was  mean  of  Tellef  to  hit  him  in  the 
back. 

"Yes,  we  love  our  grand  old  Norway!'9  This 
time  he  whistled  almost  the  whole  tune  in  his 
loud,  shrill  whistle;  then  he  took  to  his  heels 
and  was  soon  at  the  big  gate  that  led  into  the 
Kingthorpe  grounds. 

It  was  queer,  but  the  minute  you  were  inside 
that  gate  you  felt  quiet,  almost  solemn,  and 
like  behaving  your  very  best.  Everything  was 
orderly  and  stately  and  peaceful.  The  trees 
were  very  old  and  very  tall,  with  wonderfully 
broad,  full  crowns.  The  lawns  were  very 
spacious,  with  not  a  single  twig  on  the  grass 
anywhere,  and  the  paths  were  always  smooth,  as 
if  freshly  raked. 


JOHNNY  BLOSSOM  FIGHTING  11 

Every  one  said  that  Uncle  Isaac  was  awfully 
rich.  Well,  then,  why  did  he  look  so  sad  and 
why  was  he  always  thinking  and  thinking  so 
hard?  What  in  the  world  could  he  be  puzzling 
about  when  he  was  so  rich?  Why,  he  had 
everything,  even  to  a  saddle  horse  and  a  pleas- 
ure yacht;  and  the  horse  was  a  thoroughbred, 
according  to  Carlstrom  the  coachman. 

It  was  different  with  Father.  When  he  looked 
troubled,  Mother  said  he  was  worried  about 
money  matters,  and  that  we  had  to  be  very 
careful  with  our  money.  Pshaw!  Why  must 
some  people  be  so  careful  about  money,  and 
some  ride  on  fine  saddle  horses,  and  some  have 
nothing  but  fish  to  eat,  morning,  noon,  and 
night  ? 

If  he  only  hadn't  smashed  Tellef  s  fishing 
rod  yesterday! 

"Yes,  we  love  our  grand  old  Norway!"  Sud- 
denly he  stopped  short.  Think  of  his  whistling 
in  Kingthorpe  Park!  It  was  to  be  hoped  that 
no  one  had  heard.  Of  course  you  should  be 
nice  and  quiet  here.  It  was  to  be  hoped,  too, 
that  that  ill-tempered  watchdog  would  not  come 
growling  along.  Not  that  Johnny  Blossom 
was  afraid  of  him.  Far  from  it !  But  that  dog 
was  so  cross,  you  couldn't  like  him. 


12  JOHNNY  BLOSSOM 

Johnny  stood  still,  unconsciously  kicking  a 
big  hole  in  the  path  as  he  meditated.  Perhaps 
it  would  be  just  as  well  to  go  straight  back  home 
again  without  seeing  Uncle  Isaac;  but  no  —  he 
really  needed  a  quarter  terribly  today;  and  on 
he  ran  through  the  grounds  and  burst  in  at  the 
big  entrance  door  of  Kingthorpe. 

The  front  hall  was  very  grand.  It  was  two 
stories  high  and  the  floor  was  of  checkered  black 
and  white  marble.  Here  you  need  not  be  so 
careful  about  footmarks  as  on  the  other  floors, 
which  were  all  highly  polished. 

Pshaw!  There  stood  Miss  Melling,  Uncle 
Isaac's  housekeeper.  "Why!  Is  it  you,  John? 
Is  there  anything  particular  wanted?" 

There !  Any  one  could  see  by  that  how  horrid 
she  was  —  asking  if  he  wanted  anything  in 
particular ! 

"Oh,  I  just  came  to  see  Uncle  Isaac,  it  is  so 
long  since  I  was  here." 

"Long?  It  seems  to  me  you  were  here  only 
last  week." 

"No,  I  wasn't." 

"Well,  I  don't  know  whether  your  uncle  is 
well  enough  to  see  you  today.  I  will  find  out." 

How  tiresome  Miss  Melling  was!  Well,  if 
she  offered  him  cookies  and  jelly  today,  as 


JOHNNY  BLOSSOM  FIGHTING  13 

she  sometimes  did,  she  would  find  out  that 
he  wouldn't  take  anything  from  her.  Never  in 
the  world. 

Here  she  was  again. 

"  Yes,  you  may  go  in ;  but  you  must  wipe  your 
feet  well  and  shut  the  door  softly  and  not  stay 
so  long  as  to  tire  him." 

Wouldn't  any  one  suppose  that  Uncle  Isaac 
was  her  uncle  and  not  his,  Johnny  Blossom's, 
the  way  she  behaved  ? 

Johnny  Blossom,  cap  in  hand,  tiptoed  with 
unusual  care  over  the  highly  polished  floor. 
First  a  gentle  knock  on  Uncle's  door,  then  a 
louder  one. 

"Come  right  in,  my  boy." 

Johnny  Blossom  bowed  low  as  he  entered. 

Gray-haired,  delicate,  with  sorrowful  eyes 
and  long,  white  hands,  Uncle  Isaac  sat  in  his 
big,  carved,  oaken  chair. 

"Good  day,  John!  Now  this  is  very  kind  of 
you  to  come  to  me,  away  out  here." 

"Yes.  I  thought  it  was  an  awfully  long  time 
since  you  had  seen  me." 

"True,  so  it  is.  I  suppose  you  are  very  busy 
nowadays?" 

"Awfully  busy.  Tonight  we  are  going  out 
fishing." 


14  JOHNNY  BLOSSOM 

"I  meant  particularly  at  school." 

"Oh!    Of  course  I  go  to  school." 

"You  are  a  good  scholar?" 

"Oh,  well,  I  am  not  the  worst.  I'm  not  one 
of  the  best  either,  but  I'm  not  the  worst, 
really." 

"But  you  should  be  among  the  best,  Johnny 
Blossom." 

There  was  a  short  silence. 

"It  is  awfully  hard  to  be  among  the  best, 
Uncle  Isaac,"  with  an  apologetic  smile. 

"Not  if  a  person  is  industrious,  John." 

Johnny  Blossom  suddenly  found  something 
the  matter  with  his  shoestring.  His  face  was 
very  red  when  he  straightened  up  again,  saying, 
"  How  provoking  shoestrings  are ! " 

"How  are  your  sisters?" 

"Oh,  very  well." 

"My  god-daughter,  Dagny  —  she  is  getting 
big  now?" 

"My,  oh,  my!  She  is  so  heavy!  You  would 
hardly  believe  how  heavy  she  is;  but  I  almost 
know  that  I  could  lift  her  and  hold  her  at  arm's 
length  with  my  arm  out  like  this,  perfectly 
straight!" 

"  My  dear  John !  You  do  not  try  lifting  the 
child  at  arm's  length,  as  you  say?" 


JOHNNY  BLOSSOM  FIGHTING  15 

"Yes,  I  tried  once.  I  could  do  it  well  enough, 
too;  but  you  should  just  see  how  cross  that 
child  is.  She  roars  at  nothing." 

"But  there  might  be  a  bad  accident  if  you 
dropped  her." 

Johnny  smiled  condescendingly.  "You  don't 
know  how  strong  I  am,  Uncle  Isaac.  Look  at 
my  muscle  here." 

Quick  as  a  flash,  Johnny's  jacket  was  off  and 
he  was  displaying  his  little  shirt  sleeve.  "Look 
here!  Look!  Isn't  that  good  muscle?" 

Suddenly  he  glanced  around  the  room.  "  Isn't 
there  something  here  I  can  lift?" 

"My  dear  Johnny!    No,  no!" 

"Yes,  that  fire-screen  will  be  just  the  thing." 

"No,  no,  thank  you,  John.  I  am  willing  to 
believe  that  you  are  very  strong." 

"There!    This  lamp  will  do." 

A  little  firm  brown  hand  had  already  seized 
upon  the  big  lamp. 

Uncle  Isaac  roused  up.  "No,  no,  my  boy! 
Let  go  the  lamp!  Let  go  instantly!" 

"Well,  if  you  don't  want  me  to  show  you. 
But  really,  if  my  little  finger  were  only  big 
enough,  I  could  lift  the  lamp  just  with  that." 

Johnny  shook  the  brown  little  finger  almost 
in  Uncle  Isaac's  face. 


16  JOHNNY  BLOSSOM 

"Why,  what  have  you  done  to  your  face, 
John  ?  You  have  a  big  scratch  there." 

"Oh,  that?  Well,  that's  —  that's  noth- 
ing." 

"But  how  did  you  get  it?" 

"Why  —  it  —  it  came  so." 

"Came  so?    What  do  you  mean?" 

"Oh,  we  were  fighting." 

"Why  were  you  fighting?" 

"It  was  just  that  stupid  Tellef  Olsen.  He 
bragged  so  much  about  being  the  strongest  of 
all  the  boys"  — 

"And  then?" 

"The  whole  school  said  he  was  the  strongest, 
and  that  was  disgusting,  for  it  wasn't  true.  I'm 
a  great  deal  stronger  than  Tellef.  I  am  really 
awfully  strong,  I  am." 

"And  so  you  fought?" 

"Yes.  I  was  up  on  the  fence  yesterday,  and 
Tellef  Olsen  went  past  in  the  alley  and  hit  me 
in  the  back  with  a  long  switch"  — 

"And  then?" 

"Why,  yes.  Then  we  fought  each  other,  you 
know." 

A  silence  followed  this  remark.  Since  Uncle 
Isaac  said  nothing,  Johnny  continued: 

"I  beat,  too!    My,  what  a  thrashing  I  gave 


JOHNNY  BLOSSOM  FIGHTING  17 

him!  Now  they'll  know  I  am  the  strongest. 
I'd  rather  be  strong  than  anything  else." 

Again  it  was  very  still. 

"You  say  that,  do  you,  John?  You  think 
that  to  be  strong  is  the  greatest  thing  ?  Possibly 
it  was,  in  past  ages;  but  in  the  future,  the  man 
with  the  most  love  in  his  heart,  the  best  man, 
will  be  the  greatest.  Remember  that,  little 
John  Blossom." 

The  boy  looked  at  his  uncle  in  astonishment. 
The  man  with  the  most  love  in  his  heart  the 
best  man  ?  He  the  greatest  of  all  ? 

"  Yes,"  continued  Uncle  Isaac.  "  He  who  heals 
instead  of  wounds,  he  who  does  good  and  helps 
the  needy,  he  is  the  greatest,  John  Blossom." 

Heals  and  not  wounds;  does  good;  helps  the 
needy.  Johnny  sat  staring  at  his  Uncle  Isaac. 
Deep  within  his  heart  there  lay  a  weight,  a 
sadness.  It  was  the  thought  of  Tellef  Olsen's 
fishing  rod  that  he  had  broken  to  smithereens 
—  Tellef 's,  who  had  to  go  fishing  every  day  or 
his  mother  and  the  children  would  have  nothing 
to  eat;  and  of  the  jacket  all  split,  too,  —  the 
only  one  Tellef  had. 

Uncle  Isaac  was  gazing  far  away,  up  toward 
the  sky.  "That  is  being  great;  the  greatest 
any  one  in  the  world  can  be." 


i8  JOHNNY  BLOSSOM 

All  at  once  it  had  become  very  impressive  in 
there  with  Uncle  Isaac,  who  seemed  to  have 
forgotten  him  and  continued  gazing  up  into  the 
sky.  Johnny  Blossom  turned  and  fidgeted  in 
his  seat.  "  I've  got  to  go,"  he  said  suddenly. 

"Well,  well.  Wait  a  minute."  Uncle  Isaac 
took  out  his  pocket-book  and  gave  John  two 
bright  half-dollars.  "There  is  always  something 
you  would  like  to  buy  for  yourself,  little  John, 
so  take  this;  but  don't  fight  any  more,  and 
remember  what  it  is  that  makes  a  man  great." 

"Thank  you,  Uncle  Isaac.  Good-by."  With 
this  Johnny  Blossom  bowed  and  vanished. 

Out  in  the  front  hall  stood  Miss  Melling, 
holding  in  her  hand  a  plate  on  which  was  a  big 
piece  of  cake  with  thick  frosting  on  it. 

"Johnny  boy,  see  here!  Here  is  something 
for  you." 

He  had  bitten  into  the  cake  before  he  re- 
membered that  he  never  in  the  world  was  going 
to  take  any  more  goodies  from  Miss  Melling. 
"Thank  you."  He  bowed  low,  with  his  mouth 
crammed  full  of  cake.  "Thank  you."  Of  course 
he  couldn't  possibly  say  that  he  wouldn't  have 
the  cake  when  she  put  it  right  under  his  nose 
that  way.  He  had  thought  of  her  asking  him 
to  go  into  her  room  to  be  treated  to  cookies  and 


JOHNNY  BLOSSOM  FIGHTING  19 

jelly.  That  was  what  he  had  meant  he  would 
not  do. 

Soon  he  was  in  the  grounds  again,  but  he  did 
not  hurry,  nor  did  he  give  one  thought  to  the 
cross  mastiff.  Every  now  and  then  he  opened  his 
hand  to  look  at  the  two  silver  pieces.  To  think 
that  he  really  had  two  half-dollars!  He  could 
get  himself  extra  good  fishing  tackle  for  that 
much  money  —  far  better  than  William  Holm's 
even.  Yes,  as  Uncle  Isaac  had  said,  there  was 
always  something  you  wanted  to  buy  for  your- 
self. What  was  that  other  thing  Uncle  Isaac 
had  said?  The  man  with  the  most  love  in  his 
heart  was  the  greatest?  He  who  was  kind  was 
greater  than  he  who  was  strong? 

How  hard  he  had  hit  Tellef  in  the  face !  How 
the  blood  had  spurted  out  from  his  nose !  It  was 
too  bad.  Tellef  had  not  been  out  to  play  last 
night  or  today  either.  How  that  jacket  of  his 
looked,  torn  that  way!  Really,  it  was  a  perfect 
shame. 

Again  and  again  Johnny  Blossom  opened  his 
hand  and  looked  at  the  silver  pieces.  Suddenly, 
speaking  aloud  in  his  determination,  he  said: 
"I  am  going  to  give  these  to  Tellef.  It  was 
an  awful  shame  for  me  to  fight  him  like  that, 
even  if  he  did  hit  me  in  the  back." 


20  JOHNNY  BLOSSOM 

Johnny  dashed  off  at  a  run.  What  if  they 
hadn't  had  even  fish  to  eat  at  Tellefs  house 
today  on  account  of  the  broken  pole  ? 

The  road  was  very  steep  and  he  almost  slid 
down,  landing  right  near  the  shanty  where 
Tellef  lived.  Oh,  dear!  What  was  to  be  done 
next?  It  would  be  very  embarrassing  to  say 
to  Tellef  that  he  felt  ashamed  of  himself.  How 
could  he  do  it? 

Aha!  there  was  Christina,  Tellefs  little 
sister. 

"Here,  Christina.  Will  you  give  these  to 
Tellef?" 

Johnny  Blossom  handed  her  the  two  half- 
dollars,  speaking  fast  and  feeling  in  a  great 
hurry  to  get  away.  Christina  looked  at  him 
in  amazement. 

"What  for?  "she  asked. 

"Oh,  because  I  fought  him;  because  his 
fishpole  got  smashed." 

He  was  off,  leaping  up  the  steep  road.  Chris- 
tina looked  at  the 'money  and  then  at  the  dis- 
appearing boy  and  said,  "How  queer  he  was!" 

For  several  days  Johnny  Blossom  avoided 
meeting  Tellef,  but  he  saw  that  Tellef  had 
bought  a  handsome  strong  fishing  rod,  and  that 
he  had  had  fish  to  take  home  every  single  day. 


JOHNNY  BLOSSOM  FIGHTING  21 

"That's  fine  new  tackle  you  have,"  said 
William  Holm  to  Tellef  one  afternoon. 

"Yes/*  Tellef  cast  a  smiling  glance  at  Johnny 
Blossom. 

With  that  it  was  as  if  the  old  score  between 
them  was  wiped  out  once  for  all.  That  same 
afternoon  they  went  fishing  together  and  talked 
much  about  the  new  fishing  rod's  wonderful 
catching  powers;  but  not  a  word  did  Johnny 
Blossom  say  as  to  why  he  had  given  the  money 
to  Tellef,  nor  did  Tellef  ever  mention  it.  And 
there  was  no  more  talk  between  them  as  to  who 
was  the  stronger. 


CHAPTER  1 1 
Crab  FisKiag 


N 


'OW  there  was  going  to  be  fun  in  plenty ! 
Hadn't  they  come  out  to  Oxen  Bay  for 
the  whole  summer,  Mother  and  the 
three  sisters  and  himself?  And  wasn't  Father 
coming  every  Saturday  to  spend  Sunday  ?  They 
were  living  in  Pilot  Taraldsen's  small  yellow 
house,  and  he  and  his  boy  Eric  had  moved  out 
into  a  sort  of  woodshed  for  the  summer.  Johnny 
Blossom  had  turned  somersaults  all  over  the 
field  near  the  house  for  pure  joy,  on  his  first 
arrival  at  Oxen  Bay. 

One  hot  noontide  he  and   Eric  lay  on   the 
wharf  in  the   baking   sunshine.    It  was 
not   Pilot  Taraldsen's  wharf  near  the 
house,  but  the  old 
wharf  beyond    the     — 
woods. 

22 


CRAB  FISHING  23 

Really  it  was  a  delightful  old  wharf.  Near 
the  shore  it  was  built  on  rocks  and  stones,  but 
farther  out  there  were  thick  piles  on  which  the 
great  heavy  boards  were  laid.  There  was  no 
railing,  and  at  the  extreme  end  a  single  board 
to  which  boats  could  be  fastened  projected  far 
out  over  the  water.  The  boards  shone  white 
and  hot  in  the  sun.  The  piles  down  in  the 
water  were  covered  with  tiny  shells,  seaweed, 
and  greenish  slime. 

What  a  clear  light  green  the  water  was  under 
the  wharf!  You  could  see  every  single  snail 
shell,  every  starfish,  and  every  tiniest  stone  on  the 
smooth,  light-colored  bottom.  Whole  schools  of 
small  fish  darted,  quick  as  lightning,  between 
the  slimy  old  piles.  Once  in  a  while  a  lazy  eel 
glided  under  the  wharf,  wound  slowly  in  and 
out,  lay  still  a  moment  as  if  to  sun  itself,  then 
slowly,  curve  after  curve,  took  itself  out  again. 

The  path  leading  down  from  the  woods  was  so 
rough  and  steep  that  people  never  liked  to  walk 
on  it;  and  no  boats  were  kept  at  this  wharf 
except  the  sail-boat  belonging  to  a  merchant  from 
the  city.  The  merchant's  boat  was  an  unusually 
beautiful  one.  It  was  painted  a  dazzling  white 
and  had  "Sea  Mew"  in  golden  letters  on  one 
side  of  it. 


24  JOHNNY  BLOSSOM 

Johnny  Blossom  and  Eric,  the  pilot's  son,  lay 
on  the  wharf  with  their  heads  stretched  out 
over  the  edge,  gazing  down  into  the  water. 
"  Shall  we  fish  for  crabs  ? "  asked  Eric.  Of  course 
Johnny  thought  this  was  just  the  thing  to  do. 
Eric  took  a  long  string  from  his  pocket  and 
tied  a  stone  at  the  end. 

"  See  that  thundering  big  one  away  over  there  ? 
I'm  going  to  get  her,"  said  Eric,  pointing  to  a 
venerable  looking  crab  that  had  been  lying  for 
a  long  time  squeezed  in  between  two  rocks. 
The  boys  dangled  the  string  with  the  stone  on 
it  temptingly  near  the  big  crab.  Crabs  usually 
get  excited  over  a  stone  swinging  above  them 
that  way.  They  reach  up  for  it,  grip  it  tightly, 
and  —  a  jerk  and  up  they  come!  But  this 
crab  had  seen  too  many  such  stones  in  its 
long  life,  and  lay  stock  still  without  moving  a 
claw. 

"Come,  old  lady,"  encouraged  Eric. 

"  She's  dead,"  said  Johnny. 

"Not  a  bit  of  it,  Bub,  she's  only  sly." 

"Perhaps  I  can  poke  her  out  with  a  stick," 
suggested  Johnny.  But  not  a  stick  could  they 
find,  though  they  looked  all  around.  In  the 
sail-boat,  however,  there  was  the  finest  kind  of 
a  boat-hook. 


CRAB  FISHING  25 

"I'll  get  that  boat-hook,"  said  Johnny, 
jumping  on  board  the  "Sea  Mew."  v 

"Well,  I'll  poke  her  out,"  said  Eric. 

"No,  I  will,"  said  Johnny. 

They  disputed  over  this  a  long  time. 

"You  must  remember  I  got  the  boat-hook," 
urged  Johnny. 

Finally  they  agreed  to  take  turns  poking  at 
the  crab,  but  it  would  not  budge.  It  lay  as  if 
it  were  nailed  fast  to  the  rocks. 

"Get  out  of  that,  you  old  grandmother!" 

Johnny  Blossom  grew  more  and  more  excited. 
He  stood  on  the  tip  end  of  the  plank  that  ex- 
tended out  over  the  water. 

"There!  Now!"  Eric  cheered  him  on. 
"Reach  farther  out,  Bub!  She's  stirring  a 
little.  Farther  out,  I  say." 

Splash!  There  lay  Johnny  Blossom  and  the 
boat-hook  in  the  water.  Oh,  how  angry  he  was ! 
"Ugh  — Ugh!"  he  sputtered. 

Dropping  the  boat-hook,  he  swam  the  couple 
of  strokes  that  would  bring  him  to  the  wharf, 
and  climbed  up. 

"Ugh,  how  wet  I  am!"  said  Johnny,  and  then, 

"Catch  that  boat-hook  there!"  he  shouted, 
as  it  floated  almost  to  the  edge  of  the  wharf. 

No  —  Eric  could  not  catch  the  boat-hook  — 


26  JOHNNY  BLOSSOM 

and  there  was  no  boat  for  them  to  go  after  it  in ; 
so  Johnny  Blossom  had  to  jump  into  the  water 
again,  catch  the  boat-hook,  and  swim  to  shore 
with  it.  Ugh!  how  sopping  wet  he  was! 

"Take  your  clothes  off  and  dry  them  then," 
said  Eric. 

Johnny  wriggled  himself  out  of  his  wet  blouse 
and  shirt  and  everything,  wrung  them  out,  and 
spread  them  to  dry  upon  the  sun-warmed  boards. 
In  the  meantime  Eric  had  possessed  himself 
of  the  boat-hook  and  was  poking  at  the  crab. 

"Ha!  I'll  get  her  out!" 

No  —  Johnny  Blossom  claimed  that  it  was 
still  his  turn.  They  had  a  tussle  over  it  and 
Johnny  won;  and  there  he  stood,  stark  naked 
in  the  sunshine  on  the  projecting  plank,  poking 
and  thrusting  with  the  boat-hook. 

Suddenly  they  heard  voices.  Who  in  the 
world  was  coming?  The  boys  looked  toward 
the  forest. 

Yes,  there  was  a  lady  and  a  gentleman  on  the 
path  — that  rough  path  full  of  tree  roots  and 
stones;  and  another  lady  and  gentleman — 
and  following  them  two  ladies  —  more  ladies  — 
in  light  dresses  and  with  baskets. 

My,  oh,  my!  Here  he  stood  without  any 
clothes  on  and  with  the  boat-hook  from  the 


CRAB  FISHING  27 

"Sea  Mew"  in  his  hand!  And  here  came  the 
merchant  who  owned  the  sail-boat. 

Eric  took  to  his  heels  and  sped  like  an  arrow 
across  the  beach  and  up  to  the  forest.  Johnny 
Blossom  sprang  after  him,  throwing  the  boat- 
hook  on  the  wharf  as  he  went.  He  never  thought 
of  his  clothes  until  he  was  in  the  woods. 

My!  how  he  ran!  He  was  in  such  a  fright 
that  he  did  not  once  glance  back.  My,  oh,  my ! 
Here  he  was  running  along  in  his  bare  skin; 
while  his  clothes,  wet  as  wet  could  be,  were 
lying  down  there  among  all  those  elegant  ladies ! 

And  home  was  a  good  way  off;  first  through 
the  forest,  then  along  the  stone  wall,  and  all 
across  the  Karine  place,  where  everybody  could 
see  him.  How  disgusting!  Where  Eric  was,  or 
even  which  way  he  had  gone  in  the  woods, 
Johnny  had  no  idea. 

From  the  wharf  below  came  the  sound  of 
laughter.  How  those  ladies  were  laughing  and 
shouting!  He  could  not  see  them  because  of 
the  trees,  but  the  talk  and  laughter  was 
incessant. 

He  threw  himself  down  behind  a  wild  rose- 
bush. They  would  probably  sail  away  soon  and 
then  he  could  go  down  after  his  clothes.  Pretty 
lucky  to  have  got  away  from  that  cross  mer- 


28  JOHNNY  BLOSSOM 

chant!  Eric  had  always  said  he  was  an  awfully 
cross  man. 

A  long  time  Johnny  lay  there  and  all  the  while 
the  sound  of  talk  and  laughter  floated  up  to  him, 
so  he  knew  that  the  picnic  party  must  still  be 
on  the  wharf.  The  wind  began  to  blow  harder; 
it  blew  colder,  too,  horridly  cold  in  fact,  and  he 
felt  almost  frozen.  Shivering  and  with  his  teeth 
chattering,  he  crept  back  a  little  way  toward  the 
wharf  and  gazed  down  from  behind  a  tree  trunk. 

Just  think!  There  they  sat,  in  the  sunshine 
on  the  wharf,  eating  from  their  baskets  and 
having  such  a  good  time;  and  here  was  he, 
alone,  naked,  and  so  frightfully  cold.  Boo-hoo- 
hoo!  He  wanted  to  go  home  to  Mother.  He 
might  crawl  home  through  the  gutters  —  but 
what  would  Mother  say  if  he  went  home  without 
any  clothes?  Boo-hoo-hoo! 

"What's  the  matter?  What  ye  cryin'  fer?" 
It  was  Nils  the  fisherman  who  spoke  and  whose 
coming  over  the  soft  grass  Johnny  had  not 
noticed. 

"Land's  sakes!    Layin'  here  naked,  boy?" 

Then  Johnny  Blossom  cried  in  earnest. 

"Yes" — sob,  sob—  "my  clothes  are  down  on 
the  wharf  and  the  ladies  are  sitting  there  eating 
and  laughing  and  —  boo-hoo-hoo!" 


CRAB  FISHING  29 

"Hev  ye  ben  doin'  suthin'  bad?  Dassn't  ye 
go  git  yer  things?" 

"I  tumbled  into  the  water" — sob — "and  we 
took  the  boat-hook  from  'Sea  Mew' — and  then 
the  people  came  and  I  ran" — 

"Oh,  well!  See  here.  I'll  lend  ye  my  blouse. 
Put  it  on  and  run  down  fer  yer  clo'es." 

How  kind  Nils  was !  The  blouse  came  almost 
to  Johnny's  knees,  but  now  that  he  had  some- 
thing on  there  was  no  reason  for  not  going  to 
the  wharf.  Still,  it  was  horrid  to  go  among  all 
those  strangers,  rigged  out  in  this  fashion. 

He  took  his  way  slowly  down,  hiding  behind 
trees,  looking  out  and  then  sneaking  forward 
again,  until  he  reached  the  open  beach.  The 
picnic  party  was  still  feasting  merrily,  making 
speeches  and  drinking  one  another's  health. 
Johnny  stole  along,  dodging  from  rock  to  rock. 
Suddenly  one  of  the  ladies  called  out:  "Mercy! 
there  he  is ! "  Then  they  all  clapped  their  hands  and 
shouted  to  him  and  clapped  their  hands  again. 

"Come  here,  boy,"  called  a  very  stout  gentle- 
man, the  cross  merchant  who  owned  the  "Sea 
Mew." 

Oh,  dear!  How  embarrassing  it  was — per- 
fectly horrid!  And  how  they  roared  again  as 
he  came  on  to  the  wharf! 


30  JOHNNY  BLOSSOM 

"What  kind  of  a  specimen  are  you?"  asked 
the  stout  gentleman. 

"I  am  not  a  specimen.  I  am  Johnny 
Blossom." 

"No  —  are  you  really?" 

Johnny  did  not  see  anything  to  laugh  at,  yet 
they  laughed  harder  than  ever. 

"May  I  ask  whether  it  was  you  that  took 
the  boat-hook  out  of  my  sail-boat  ? " 

The  stout  gentleman  had  a  tight  grip  on 
Johnny's  little  red  ear. 

"Please  excuse  me  about  the  boat-hook,"  and 
a  small  brown  hand  was  stretched  out  and  laid 
in  the  merchant's  hand. 

"Come  now.  He  shall  have  a  cake,"  said  one 
of  the  ladies.  "Here,  take  more;  take  these, 
and  these." 

"Why  don't  you  eat  them?"  asked  another 
lady. 

"Oh,  I'm  going  to  give  them  to  Nils  the 
fisherman." 

"Why  is  that?" 

"Because  he  lent  me  his  blouse."  Johnny 
Blossom  was  exceedingly  serious  throughout 
the  whole  conversation. 

"Good-by."  He  bowed,  his  little  naked 
heels  put  together  in  most  formal  manner. 


CRAB  FISHING  31 

"  Good-by,  little  Johnny  Blossom,  and  thanks 
for  the  pleasure  you  have  given  us." 

Just  what  the  pleasure  was  Johnny  Blossom 
could  not  exactly  understand. 

"You  mustn't  put  those  wet  clothes  on," 
said  one  lady. 

"Oh,  they're  dry,"  said  Johnny,  feeling  of 
the  clothes.  "They're  as  dry  as  tinder." 

At  this  they  all  laughed  again.  There  was  a 
very  wet  place  on  the  wharf  where  the  clothes 
had  lain. 

Fortunately  Mother  was  out  when  he  first 
got  home,  and  Lisa  the  maid  was  very  kind  in 
helping  him  get  dry  clothes.  It  was  queer,  but 
perhaps  his  others  had  not  been  as  dry  as  tinder, 
after  all. 

Johnny  deliberated  all  the  afternoon  as  to 
whether  he  should  tell  his  mother  what  had 
happened  or  not.  She  was  so  everlastingly 
anxious  about  such  things.  But  when  she 
came  to  his  room  to  say  good  night,  he  burst 
out  with  it. 

"Mother,  I  fell  in  the  water  today." 

"Oh,  my  boy!" 

''Yes,  I  just  tumbled  right  in."  He  got  up 
in  bed,  eager  to  show  how  he  fell.  "  But  it  was 


32  JOHNNY  BLOSSOM 

horrid  afterward,  because  some  fine  ladies  and 
gentlemen  came,  who  ate  and  drank  there  on  the 
wharf  a  long  time ;  and  then  Nils  the  fisherman 
lent  me  his  blouse,  and  they  gave  me  some 
cream  cakes"  — 

"Why  in  the  world  should  Nils  lend  you  his 
blouse?'* 

"Oh,  because  I  was  all  naked  and  had  been 
lying  behind  a  bush  ever  so  long"  — 

"But,  John  dear!" 

"Nils  was  so  happy  over  the  cakes.  He  took 
them  home  to  that  sick  boy  of  his." 

"Didn't  you  eat  any  of  them  yourself?" 

"No  —  I  gave  them  all  to  Nils;  but  that 
stout  man  pinched  my  ear  pretty  hard,  I  can 
tell  you." 

"Had  you  done  something  wrong,  John?" 

"Well  —  that  was  because  of  the  boat-hook, 
you  see ;  but  I  asked  him  to  excuse  me  and  we 
shook  hands." 

"Rather  an  involved  story,"  thought  Mother. 
But  she  said:  "Well,  now  you  must  say  your 
prayers  and  go  to  sleep." 

So  Johnny  Blossom  repeated  the  little  prayers 
he  had  said  every  night  since  he  was  two  years 
old,  and  was  soon  sleeping  peacefully. 


'CHAPTE  _   ,.. 

'ACredit  to  the  School" 


OHNNY  BLOSSOM  was  walking  home  from 
school.  He  carried  his  head  high;  his 
turned-up,  freckled  nose  was  held  proudly 
in  the  air;  his  cap  hung  on  the  back  of  his 
head.  Both  hands  were  in  his  pockets,  and 
his  loud  whistling  waked  the  echoes  as  he 
strode  through  Jensen  Alley.  Perfectly  splen- 
did monthly  report!  Of  course  he  knew  it, 
word  for  word,  and  he  said  it  over  to  himself 
again,  as  he  had  many  times. 

"John  has  lately  been  more  industrious.     With 

his  excellent  ability  he  is  now  a  credit  to  the  school" 

This  was  signed  with  nothing  less  than  the 

Principal's  name.     Not  just  a  teacher's  —  no, 

33 


34  JOHNNY  BLOSSOM 

thank  you !  A  credit  to  the  school.  The  whis- 
tling grew  louder  and  more  piercing.  A  credit 
to  the  school.  He  was  going  straight  to  Father 
with  this  report,  and  would  lay  it  right  under 
Father's  nose. 

Well,  he  had  been  industrious.  He  had  gone 
over  every  lesson  five  times,  and  he  could  rattle 
off  all  the  exceptions  in  his  German  grammar 
and  all  the  mountains  in  Asia,  even  those  with 
the  awfully  hard  names. 

Really,  it  was  rather  pleasant  to  know  your 
lessons  well  and  rank  with  the  good  scholars. 
Now  he  should  be  able  to  crow  over  Asta. 
She  often  had  to  sit  the  whole  afternoon  with 
her  fingers  in  her  ears,  mumbling  and  study- 
ing, and  even  then  couldn't  get  her  lessons 
sometimes,  and  would  cry;  but,  of  course,  she 
was  only  a  girl. 

He  would  take  this  report  to  Uncle  Isaac  of 
Kingthorpe,  too.  Uncle  Isaac  was  always 
questioning  and  probing  to  find  out  how  he  got 
on  at  school.  Now  he  should  see !  Sharp  whis- 
tling again  pierced  the  air. 

Another  wonderfully  interesting  thing  was 
that  "Goodwill  of  Luckton"  had  arrived.  He  had 
seen  it  at  Forsberg's  wharf  when  he  was  going  to 
school.  At  this  thought  Johnny  Blossom  broke 


A  CREDIT  TO  THE  SCHOOL  35 

into  a  run.  Darting  through  the  little  gate  to 
their  own  back  yard,  he  burst  into  the  entry 
and,  in  the  same  headlong  fashion,  into  the 
dining  room.  The  family  was  already  at  the 
table. 

"  Here  is  my  monthly  report  and  *  Goodwill  of 
Luckton'  has  come,"  exclaimed  Johnny. 

Father  and   Mother   looked  at   the  report. 
"Very  good,  John,"  said  Father;  and  Johnny 
felt  Mother's  gentle  hand  stroking  his  hair. 
"  But  what  is  it  that  has  come  ? " 
"Goodwill  of  Luckton/  of  course." 
Johnny  was  gulping  his  soup  with  great  haste. 
"Express  yourself  clearly  and  eat  properly." 
Everything  had  to  be  so  proper  to  suit  Father. 
"The  apple  boat,  the  one  Mr.  Lind  and  Mrs. 
Lind    own,    you    know  —  that    comes    every 
autumn." 

Yes,  the  apple  boat.  It  was  painted  green  as 
it  had  been  last  year;  the  sails  were  patched ;  the 
poorest  apples  lay  in  heaps  on  the  deck,  the 
medium  sort  were  in  bags,  and  the  best  apples 
were  in  baskets.  In  the  midst  of  this  tempting 
abundance  Mrs.  Lind,  who  was  uncommonly 
stout,  usually  sat,  knitting.  When  her  husband 
was  up  in  town  delivering  apples  Mrs.  Lind 
took  care  of  the  boat,  the  apples,  and  Nils  and 


36  JOHNNY  BLOSSOM 

everything.  Nils,  their  son,  was  more  to  look 
after  than  all  the  rest  put  together,  for  he  was 
the  worst  scalawag  to  be  found  along  the  whole 
coast. 

John  kept  on  eating  and  talking.  "Nils  is  a 
bad  boy,  Mother.  When  he  talks  to  his  mother, 
he  keeps  the  side  of  his  face  toward  her  perfectly 
sober ;  but  he  makes  faces  with  the  side  toward 
us.  It  is  awfully  funny  and  we  laugh ;  and  Mrs. 
Lind  thinks  we  are  laughing  at  her,  and  then  she 
scolds,  and  oh!  her  scolding  is  so  funny!" 

Shortly  after  dinner  Johnny  Blossom  was  out 
in  the  woodshed  whittling  a  boat.  How  delight- 
ful and  how  queer  that  he  should  be  "a  credit 
to  the  school " !  He  would  be  awfully  industrious 
now  every  single  day;  go  over  every  lesson  six 
times,  at  least. 

This  boat  that  he  was  making  was  going  to  be 
a  fine  one  —  Johnny  Blossom  held  it  out  and 
peered  sharply  at  it,  first  lengthwise,  then  side- 
wise  —  the  finest  boat  any  one  had  ever  whit- 
tled. Every  one  who  saw  it  would  say,  "Who 
made  that  beautiful,  graceful  boat?"  Well, 
here  was  the  boy  who  could  do  it! 

One  of  these  days  he  must  carve  out  a  big  ship 
about  half  a  yard  long  and  make  it  an  exact 
copy  of  a  real  ship. 


A  CREDIT  TO   THE  SCHOOL  37 

Johnny  Blossom  lost  himself  in  wondering 
whether,  when  it  was  finished,  he  shouldn't 
take  the  ship  to  school  to  show  to  the  Principal. 
If  he  did,  the  Principal  would,  of  course,  praise 
him  very  much,  for  it  would  be  an  extraordi- 
narily well-shaped,  handsome  ship. 

Yes,  Johnny  Blossom  decided  that  he  would 
take  it  to  school  for  the  Principal  to  see.  It 
should  be  painted  and  have  real  sails.  Oh,  dear! 
Then  he  should  have  to  ask  Asta  to  hem  the  sails ! 
Horrid  tease  as  she  was,  she  sewed  remarkably 
well.  Girls  weren't  good  for  much  else. 

How  would  it  be  to  make  a  sloop  next — one 
exactly  like  the  "Goodwill  of  Luckton"? 

At  this  he  threw  down  the  boat  which  was  to  be 
so  wonderfully  graceful  and  rushed  off  toward  the 
wharf.  How  stupid  of  him  to  stay  at  home  whit- 
tling when  the  "Goodwill  of  Luckton"  had  come! 

Of  course  there  were  several  boys  hanging 
around  there  —  Aaron,  Stephen,  and  Carl. 
Otherwise  not  even  a  cat  was  to  be  seen.  Streets 
and  wharf  were  deserted  in  the  quiet  noon  hour. 
Mrs.  Lind  sat  nodding  upon  the  deck.  Nils 
lounged  on  some  bags  at  the  front  of  the  boat, 
amusing  himself  making  faces.  Mr.  Lind  was 
probably  up  in  the  town  doing  errands. 

"Give  us  an  apple,"  whispered  Stephen  to 


38  JOHNNY  BLOSSOM 

Nils.  Nils  did  not  answer,  but  gave  Stephen 
a  sly  look  and  then  made  a  hideous  face. 

"Throw  some  ashore,"  suggested  Johnny 
Blossom. 

"Just  one  apiece,"  whispered  Carl. 

"Well,  don't  then,  you  miser!"  said  Aaron. 

Suddenly  Nils,  with  a  slyer  look  than  usual 
on  his  sly  face,  went  down  into  the  cabin.  A 
minute  after  he  came  stamping  up  again. 

"  Mother,  Mother !  The  coffee  is  boiling  over. 
Hurry!" 

Mrs.  Lind  waddled  hastily  across  the  deck 
and  squeezed  herself  down  the  narrow  stairway. 

"Come  now!"  called  Nils  guardedly  to  the 
boys  on  shore.  "Come  now!  Hurry  up  and 
take  some  apples." 

The  boys  on  the  wharf  did  not  wait  to  be 
called  again  but  jumped  upon  the  deck  and 
rushed  at  the  bags  of  fruit. 

"Mother,  Mother!"  roared  Nils.  "Hurry! 
There  are  thieves  at  the  apples!  Oh,  hurry!" 

In  an  incredibly  short  time  Mrs.  Lind  had 
come  upstairs,  and  there  stood  Mr.  Lind  also, 
exactly  as  if  he  had  shot  up  out  of  the  ground. 

Nils  declared  loudly :  "  Before  I  knew  a  thing 
about  it,  these  boys  rushed  on  board  and  began 
grabbing  some  of  the  best  apples." 


A  CREDIT  TO   THE  SCHOOL  39 

Oh,  how  Mr.  Lind  and  his  wife  scolded  as 
they  seized  the  astounded  boys!  Mr.  Lind  held 
two  of  them  and  Mrs.  Lind  two  —  she  had  a 
remarkably  strong  grip — while  Nils  flew  after 
a  policeman.  The  frightened  boys  cried  and 
begged  to  be  set  free.  A  crowd  gathered  on  the 
wharf  in  no  time. 

Soon  the  policeman  came.  "You  will  have 
to  go  with  me  to  the  police  station,"  said  he 
to  the  boys.  They  tried  to  explain  that  Nils 
had  invited  them  on  board,  but  it  availed  noth- 
ing. "You  go  with  me  to  the  police  station," 
was  the  only  reply  the  policeman  made  to  any- 
thing they  said. 

Oh,  but  it  was  horrid,  having  to  go  along  the 
streets  with  him!  Nils  should  have  his  pay  for 
getting  them  into  this  trouble!  At  the  police 
station  their  names  were  recorded  and  then  the 
boys  were  allowed  to  go.  Johnny  Blossom, 
shamefaced  and  troubled,  ran  straight  home. 

In  the  afternoon  the  policeman  called  to  talk 
with  Father.  Father  was  very  serious  and 
Mother  looked  frightfully  worried.  Sister  Asta 
stared  with  open  mouth.  John  had  a  bitter 
time  of  it  while  the  matter  was  being  settled, 
and  afterward  Asta's  teasing  voice  followed 
him  everywhere  as  she  kept  calling  out: 


40  JOHNNY  BLOSSOM 

"Credit  to  the  scho-ol!  Great  credit!  Won- 
derful credit!  Credit  to  the  scho-ol !" 

Oh,  how  horrid,  how  horrid  everything  was! 
Well,  he  wouldn't  go  out  any  more  today,  that 
he  wouldn't;  he  would  stay  in  his  room  with 
the  door  locked.  He  had  been  so  delighted  with 
his  report,  and  now  even  that  gave  him  no 
pleasure.  Of  course  he  couldn't  go  to  Uncle 
Isaac  with  it  after  this  disgrace. 

A  sudden  thought  struck  him.  He  would  not 
keep  the  report  any  longer.  To  have  "A  credit 
to  the  school"  upon  it  was  too  embarrassing 
after  what  had  happened. 

He  had  not  stolen  apples,  he  really  had  not; 
but  he  had  been  taken  to  the  police  station  and 
his  name,  John  Blossom,  was  written  on  the 
police  records.  Though  he  had  not  stolen  apples, 
he  had  known  very  well  that  Mr.  Lind  and  his 
wife  would  be  angry  if  boys  went  on  board  and 
helped  themselves  to  apples,  even  if  Nils  had 
said  they  might. 

Pshaw !  Everything  was  horrid.  The  boys  at 
school  would  soon  'know  all  about  it  and  then 
they  would  tease  just  as  Asta  did.  No,  he 
would  not  keep  that  report;  he  would  give  it 
back  to  the  Principal;  that  was  just  what  he 
would  do.  So  Johnny  Blossom,  saying  nothing 


A  CREDIT  TO   THE  SCHOOL  41 

at  home  of  his  intention,  went  with  determined 
step  to  the  Principal's  house.  His  cap,  instead 
of  being  set  jauntily  far  back  on  his  head,  was 
jammed  well  down  over  his  eyes. 

"Is  the  Principal  at  home?" 

"Yes,  come  in." 

The  Principal  was  a  large  man  with  a  thick, 
blond  beard  and  sharp,  blue  eyes. 

"Good  day,  Johnny  Blossom!  What  did  you 
want  to  see  me  about?" 

"It  is  horrid,  but"  — great  searching  first  in 
one  pocket  of  his  trousers,  then  in  the  other  — 
"but  if  you  will  please  take  this  report  back"  — 

"Take  it  back?    What  do  you  mean,  John?" 

"Why,  because  it  says  here  he  is  a  credit  to 
the  school,  and  he  isn't  that  —  not  now." 

"What  is  that  you  say?    Speak  out,  my  boy." 

The  boy  looked  very  little  as  he  stood  with 
his  knees  shaking  before  the  big  Principal. 

"  Because  —  because  his  name  has  been  writ- 
ten in  the  police  records  today,  and  the  police- 
man took  him  there,  and  so  it  was  horrid  that 
this  report  should  say  he  was  a  credit"  — 

"Come,  John.  Tell  me  about  it  from  the 
beginning." 

"Why,  Nils  of  the  *  Goodwill  of  Luckton'  got 
his  mother  to  go  down-stairs  and  then  he  called 


42  JOHNNY  BLOSSOM 

us  boys  to  come  aboard  and  get  some  apples; 
and  when  we  went  he  told  his  mother  there  were 
thieves  on  board;  and  he  called  the  policeman." 

"  Nils  asked  you  to  come  on  board  ? " 

"Oh,  yes;  but  for  all  that  I  knew  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Lind  would  be  angry.  I  knew  that  perfectly 
well.  But  I  went,  and  then  I  wasn't  a  credit  to 
the  school ;  so  if  you  will  please  take  this  report 
back" 

There  was  a  short  silence. 

"I  think  you  may  keep  the  report,"  said  the 
Principal  at  last.  "For  you  will  surely  not  do 
anything  of  the  kind  again,  Johnny  Blossom." 

"No.  I  shan't  have  to  be  taken  up  by  a 
policeman  ever  any  more."  Johnny  shook  his 
head  energetically.  "And  I'm  going  to  study 
hard.  Thank  you." 

At  the  door  he  repeated  his  "thank  you"  as 
he  bowed  himself  out. 

When  he  was  in  the  street  he  put  the  precious 
report  into  his  pocket,  whistling  joyously  a 
beautiful  tune  that  his  mother  often  played. 
Who  cared  for  any  one's  teasing  now  ?  Even  the 
boys  might  try  it  if  they  liked,  for  he  was  ready 
for  them.  The  Principal  knew  all  there  was  to 
know.  Awfully  kind  man,  that  Principal! 


CHAPTER   IV 

Aurvt  Grenert  sen's  Apples 


apple  tree  of  Aunt 
Grenertsen's  was  too  tan- 
talizing!  Big,  beautiful 
apples  hung  there  day  after  day, 
and  nobody  ever  seemed  to  think 
of  such  a  thing  as  taking  one  off. 
Aunt  Grenertsen  might,  for  in- 
stance, so  easily  say  to  old  Katrina, 
her  housemaid:  "Shake  down  an 
apple  or  two  for  Johnny  Blossom"; 
but  no  indeed !  Far  from  it.  Never 
in  the  world  had  she  suggested  any- 
thing of  the  kind,  although  he  had 
been  in  there  every  single  day  since 
the  apples  had  begun  to  turn. 

It  was  a  little  farther  to  go  home 
around  past  Aunt  Grenertsen's,  but 
he  didn't  mind  that,  for  it  was  in- 
teresting to  watch  how  the  apples 

43 


44  JOHNNY  BLOSSOM 

grew  and  to  see  whether  Katrina  had  gathered 
any.  But  day  after  day  everything  remained 
exactly  the  same.  There  hung  the  apples  still  — 
the  only  change  being  that  they  grew  riper  and 
riper  and  more  tempting.  Aunt  Grenertsen 
sat  gazing  out  of  her  window  from  behind  the 
plants,  and  old  Katrina,  grumpy  as  ever,  stood 
at  the  kitchen  window  peering  over  the  sash 
curtain,  in  exactly  the  same  way  every  day. 

He  was  just  sick  and  tired  of  seeing  those 
apples  in  that  good-for-nothing  garden.  Good- 
for-nothing  it  certainly  was,  and  very,  very  old. 
There  was  only  one  apple  tree  besides  the  one 
Johnny  was  so  interested  in,  but  its  fruit  could 
scarcely  be  called  apples  at  all.  He  would  call 
them  croquet  balls  —  such  hard  green  things 
as  they  were  —  hard  as  rocks.  Of  course  if 
any  of  them  were  on  the  ground,  he  bit  into 
them.  In  fact,  he  had  eaten  a  good  many  of 
them  first  and  last,  but  they  were  horrid  things, 
anyway. 

The  currants  in  Aunt  Grenertsen's  garden 
were  nothing  to  speak  of,  either.  Awfully  sour, 
small  pinheads!  The  raspberries  were  small, 
too,  but  at  any  rate,  they  were  sweet. 

Not  another  thing  was  to  be  found  in  that 
garden  —  not  a  decent  sugar  pea  nor  a  carrot 


AUNT  GRENERTSEN' S  APPLES  45 

even;  just  some  stupid  mignonette  and  violets 
and  other  flowers  that  smelled  sweet  —  as  if 
they  were  any  good !  No,  truly,  Aunt  Grenert- 
sen's  garden  was  not  very  pleasant. 

For  that  matter,  neither  was  she.  She  was 
not  really  his  aunt  and  he  was  glad  of  it;  but 
she  was  Mother's  aunt,  and  so  all  the  family 
called  her  Aunt  Grenertsen,  just  as  Mother  did. 

Aunt  Grenertsen  had  lived  in  the  little  house 
on  King  Street  for  an  age,  ever  since  he  could 
remember ;  and  everything  she  had  was  very  old- 
fashioned.  There  was  a  cuckoo  clock,  and  a 
blue  glass  jar  with  dried  rose-leaves  in;  and  on 
the  window  sill  an  old  gray  cat  blinked  and 
purred  among  the  plants. 

Aunt  Grenertsen  was  difficult  to  talk  with  — 
so  contrary,  somehow,  even  if  not  really  cross, 
that  it  was  very  tiresome.  She  wasn't  the  least 
bit  like  Uncle  Isaac  of  Kingthorpe,  who  was 
always  kind  and  gentle,  always  pleasant.  Oh, 
dear,  no!  Aunt  Grenertsen  wasn't  like  Uncle 
Isaac;  far,  far  from  it! 

Suppose,  for  instance,  that  he  went  to  her 
house  for  a  little  call,  £s  he  often  did,  for  Mother 
liked  him  to  go  —  and  Aunt  Grenertsen  some- 
times had  exceedingly  good  cakes  which  she 
called  "half  moons";  and  just  now  there  were 


46  JOHNNY  BLOSSOM 

these  delicious  ripe  apples.  During  such  calls 
she  could  be  remarkably  disagreeable.  "What 
is  the  weather  today?"  she  would  say;  and  be- 
fore he  could  answer,  would  add  "Oh,  well! 
No  use  asking  you.  Children  never  notice  the 
weather."  Or,  "What  kind  of  fish  is  there 
nowadays  at  the  wharf?  —  but  you  wouldn't 
know  that."  Or,  "Who  is  to  preach  tomorrow? 
Well  there!  I  wonder  at  my  asking  you." 

No,  she  never  thought  he  knew  anything  about 
anything,  and  that  was  so  exasperating!  He 
knew  very  well  what  the  weather  was ;  he  knew 
all  the  kinds  of  fish  that  were  for  sale  at  the 
wharf  every  day;  and  he  also  knew  that  the 
old  minister  was  to  preach  tomorrow;  but  do 
you  suppose  Aunt  Grenertsen  would  believe  a 
thing  he  told  her?  "I  can't  depend  on  that," 
she  would  say. 

Aunt  Grenertsen  certainly  was  difficult  to  talk 
with ;  and  sometimes  he  did  not  even  get  a  "  half 
moon."  He  believed  he  wouldn't  go  there  any 
more,  or  try  to  please  either  her  or  old  Katrina, 
who  was  almost  worse  than  Aunt  Grenertsen. 

Katrina  wanted  everything  done  just  so;  the 
garden  gate  must  not  only  be  shut  but  latched; 
he  must  walk  in  the  middle  of  the  path,  and  he 
must  always  use  the  kitchen  door.  If  he  went 


AUNT  GRENERTSEN'S  APPLES  47 

to  the  other  door,  he  was  sure  to  hear  "Dear, 
dear!  How  grand  he  is  today!  He  must  come 
in  at  the  front  door  and  make  some  one  leave 
her  work  to  let  him  in."  No,  indeed.  He 
would  not  go  all  that  way  around  by  King  Street 
any  more.  Their  old  apples  could  hang  and 
hang  there  forever,  for  all  he  cared. 

For  fully  four  days  Johnny  Blossom  did  not 
show  himself  inside  of  Aunt  Grenertsen's  green- 
painted  garden  fence;  but  on  the  fifth  day  he 
thought  it  would  be  interesting  after  all  to  see 
whether  the  apples  still  hung  on  the  tree.  It 
seemed  an  age  since  he  had  looked  at  them,  and 
it  would  be  disappointing  enough  if  they  had 
been  gathered. 

No,  luckily,  there  they  hung.  And  Aunt 
Grenertsen  was  gazing  out  of  the  window  from 
behind  her  plants,  and  Katrina  peering  over  the 
sash  curtains  just  as  usual.  Well,  he  would  go 
in  and  see  how  Aunt  Grenertsen  was  today. 
The  front  door  was  unlocked,  so  he  could  go  in 
that  way  without  inconveniencing  her  highness, 
Katrina. 

"Good  afternoon,  Aunt  Grenertsen.  How  do 
you  do?"  He  sat  down  in  the  chair  by  the  door, 
where  he  knew  he  was  expected  to  sit. 


48  JOHNNY  BLOSSOM 

"Good  afternoon,  Johnny  Blossom/' 

Dead  silence  for  a  long  time. 

Ugh!   he  would  have  to  try  to  talk. 

"Mother  has  gone  to  a  luncheon  party  today." 

"  I  can  well  believe  it,"  said  Aunt  Grenertsen. 
"  People  never  stay  at  home  in  these  days.  They 
are  forever  flying  about." 

"Father  was  at  a  meeting  last  night." 

"I  haven't  the  least  doubt  of  it." 

Absolute  silence  again.  If  only  the  cuckoo  in 
the  clock  would  come  out  and  call!  But  it 
would  be  almost  a  quarter  of  an  hour  before  that 
would  happen.  Johnny  Blossom  racked  his 
brain  to  think  of  something  to  talk  about. 

"We  baked  cookies  at  home  yesterday,"  he 
said  suddenly. 

"Then  I  presume  you  ate  more  of  them  than 
was  good  for  you." 

Oh,  no,  Johnny  Blossom  had  not  over-eaten; 
he  could  easily  eat  some  today,  too ;  he  had  had 
only  those  that  were  burnt. 

"Burnt,  hey?  Well,  there's  nothing  a  boy 
won't  put  into  his  stomach." 

Aunt  Grenertsen  was  unusually  disagreeable 
today.  Not  a  word  could  he  say  about  the 
apples,  because  he  had  so  often  before  brought 
up  that  subject. 


AUNT  GRENERTSEN'S  APPLES  49 

"Well,  I  think  I  must  go  now,"  he  said,  rising 
slowly. 

"Yes,  you  had  better,"  said  Aunt  Grenertsen. 
But  when  he  had  gone  into  the  hall  she  called, 
''  Johnny  Blossom!" 

He  looked  in  again. 

"Why,  there  are  those  ripe  apples.  You  might 
climb  up  in  the  tree  for  them,  you  are  so  small 
and  light." 

"Yes,  Aunt  Grenertsen.  I'll  go  right  up  now, 
this  minute." 

"No.  Come  tomorrow.  It  is  altogether  too 
late  this  afternoon." 

The  next  day,  at  a  little  past  two,  Johnny 
Blossom  was  again  in  Aunt  Grenertsen's  garden. 
He  had  gulped  down  his  dinner  at  an  alarming 
rate,  and  then  hurried  to  King  Street,  stopping 
on  his  way  to  get  Tellef ;  for  there  must  be  one 
person  to  climb  and  shake  the  tree  and  one  to 
stand  below  and  pick  up  the  apples.  However, 
Tellef  must  stay  outside  the  garden  until  Aunt 
Grenertsen  had  been  informed  that  Johnny  had 
brought  an  assistant. 

"Good  afternoon,  Aunt  Grenertsen,  here  I 


am." 


"Well,  you  are  early  enough  I  hope.    I  want 


So  JOHNNY  BLOSSOM 

to  say  this  much,  Johnny  Blossom,  that  I 
won't  have  it  on  my  conscience  that  you  should 
eat  any  half-rotten  apples  —  and  there  are 
usually  a  good  many  half-rotten  of  this  kind 
—  but  those  that  are  cracked  or  bruised  you 
may  have,  for  they  won't  keep  anyway." 

"Thank  you,  Aunt  Grenertsen." 

"I  suppose  you  can  get  along  without  Ka- 
trina's  help." 

"Oh,  yes,  perfectly.  For  that  matter,  I  have 
a  boy  outside  there  who  will  be  a  fine  helper. 
He's  very  quick  and  oh!  awfully  strong." 

"I  hadn't  supposed  great  strength  was  neces- 
sary to  pick  a  few  apples." 

"He's  a  very  good  boy,  too,  Aunt  Grenertsen." 

"  Glad  to  hear  it.  Well,  bring  your  paragon  in 
and  go  to  work." 

At  last  Johnny  Blossom  and  Tellef  stood 
under  the  apple  tree  with  a  big  basket. 

My,  oh,  my!  Just  look  at  all  the  apples! 
There  must  be  fully  a  half  bushel  —  a  good 
many  for  such  a  little  old  tree. 

"You  go  up  in  the  tree  and  shake  it,"  said 
Johnny. 

"Here  I  go,"  responded  Tellef.  He  sprang 
to  the  tree,  gripped  the  trunk  with  his  knees  and 


AUNT  GRENERTSEN'S  APPLES  51 

was  up  in  a  trice.  Vigorous  shaking.  Five  big 
apples  thumped  to  the  ground. 

"Five  big  ones  and  all  of  them  bruised,  so 
they  are  for  us,"  shouted  Johnny  Blossom;  and 
the  apples  vanished  inside  his  blouse. 

"Well,  but  I  want  some,"  answered  Tellef 
from  the  tree. 

"Of  course.    I  just  put  them  in  here  to  keep." 

Another  shaking  of  the  branches.  Besides 
some  decayed  ones,  four  good  apples  fell,  hitting 
the  ground  with  such  force  that  these,  too, 
were  crushed  or  cracked.  Tellef  was  down  on 
the  instant.  My,  oh,  my!  but  they  were  delicious 
apples.  Neither  of  the  boys  had  ever  tasted 
any  equal  to  them.  A  sharp  knock  sounded  on 
Aunt  Grenertsen's  window,  and  Johnny  hurried 
over  there. 

"It  seems  to  me  you  do  nothing  but  eat," 
came  through  the  window. 

"Oh,  no.  These  are  some  that  got  smashed 
and  you  said  we  might  eat  those." 

"  Such  rough  shaking,  I  don't  like.  You  must 
pick  the  apples." 

"Yes,  Aunt  Grenertsen." 

Up  the  tree  went  both  the  boys.  They  picked 
six  apples,  but  found  it  impossible  to  reach 
any  more.  All  the  others  hung  upon  thin  old 


52  JOHNNY  BLOSSOM 

branches  that  cracked  if  you  but  touched  them, 
and  would  by  no  means  bear  a  boy's  weight. 
The  boys  tried  and  tried  to  get  the  apples,  but 
the  tempting  things  hung  exasperatingly  out 
of  reach. 

"No  use,"  said  Johnny.  "I'll  have  to  stand 
under  the  tree  and  hold  the  basket,  while  you 
shake  the  apples  into  it.  Then  they  won't 
whack  on  the  ground  and  bruise  themselves." 

First,  however,  the  six  perfect  apples  were 
laid  carefully  upon  the  porch  steps. 

John  held  the  basket  under  a  branch  while 
Tellef  shook  it.  Eight  apples  bounced  and  rolled 
in  the  garden  path,  but  not  one  fell  into  the 
basket  and  not  one  but  showed  a  bruise  or  a  split. 

"What  a  stupid  you  are  to  shake  them  off 
that  way ! "  exclaimed  Johnny. 

"Not  a  bit.  It  is  you  who  are  stupid  about 
holding  the  basket,"  retorted  Tellef. 

They  stole  glances  at  Aunt  Grenertsen's  win- 
dow. Fortunately,  she  was  not  looking  out  and 
so  had  not  seen  the  unlucky  outcome  of  this 
attempt.  Hastily  thrusting  the  eight  apples 
into  their  blouses,  they  both  climbed  the  tree 
again  and  stretched  and  reached  their  utmost 
till  one  branch  broke  and  the  boys  nearly  tum- 
bled from  the  tree. 


AUNT  GRENERTSEN'S  APPLES  53 

"Well.    We'll  just  have  to  shake  them  off." 

"Yes,  we  must;  but  shake  gently/'  Three 
much  crushed  and  two  that  were  bruised 
slightly,  with,  of  course,  a  number  of  decayed 
ones  that  did  not  count. 

"These  two  we'll  lay  on  the  steps." 

Strangely  enough,  there  were  almost  no 
apples  left  on  the  tree  now,  except  those  on  a 
very  slender  branch.  They  would  have  to  be 
shaken  down,  for  no  person  alive  could  reach 
them.  Violent  shaking  ensued  and  apples 
pelted  down  in  a  shower,  every  one  landing 
with  a  thud  that  bruised  or  marred  it  somewhere. 
The  boys  gathered  them  hurriedly  and  deposited 
them  under  a  gooseberry  bush. 

True  as  you  live,  there  were  no  more  apples 
on  the  tree !  It  was  remarkable  how  little  time 
it  had  taken  to  strip  it.  And  on  the  steps 
lay  only  eight  apples,  and  two  of  them  were 
bruised!  What  would  Aunt  Grenertsen  say  at 
getting  so  few?  Well,  he  must  take  them  in  to 
her. 

"Here  are  the  apples,  Aunt  Grenertsen. 
Aren't  they  beauties?" 

"And  where  are  the  rest?" 

"  Why  —  these  are  all." 

"From  the  whole  tree?    Eight  apples?" 


54  JOHNNY  BLOSSOM 

"Well,  some  were  half-rotten,  and  you  said 
yourself  that  we  might  eat"  — 

"I  said  no  such  thing,"  interrupted  Aunt 
Grenertsen. 

Johnny  Blossom  blinked  his  eyes  and  scarcely 
knew  what  to  say,  but  suddenly  had  an  idea. 
He  would  begin  differently. 

"But  those  that  were  bruised  you  said  we 
might  eat,  and  we  have  done  that,"  said  Johnny 
Blossom,  frankly  and  virtuously. 

"Indeed!  You  have  done  that,  have  you? 
Well  —  it  looks  as  if  they  had  all  got  bruised." 

"Oh  no,  Aunt  Grenertsen.  Six  of  them  are  not 
bruised  at  all,  and  these  two  only  the  least  bit." 

"Well,  well!  What's  done  is  done.  I  pity 
your  stomachs,  that's  all  I  can  say." 

Oh,  dear!  Aunt  Grenertsen  wasn't  comfort- 
able to  deal  with  —  not  a  bit  easy  in  fact  —  and 
never  had  been. 

Johnny  Blossom  was  glad  enough  to  get  out 
into  the  garden  with  Tellef  again.  The  heap 
of  apples  under  the  gooseberry  bushes  was 
divided  with  great  exactness.  Aunt  Grenertsen 
could  not  see  over  there  from  her  window. 

The  boys  walked  slowly  and  lingered  much  on 
the  way  home,  munching  apples  all  the  time;  and 
their  well-stuffed  blouses  were  noticeably  less 


AUNT  GRENERTSEN'S  APPLES  55 

bulging  when  the  boys  finally  parted  at  Johnny 
Blossom's  gate. 

"  How  did  the  harvesting  of  Aunt  Grenertsen's 
apples  go  this  afternoon?"  asked  Mother. 

"Oh,  very  well,"  answered  Johnny. 

"Did  she  have  many  apples?" 

"Why,  some  were  half-rotten  or  all  rotten, 
and  a  good  many  were  bruised" — 

"  But  of  course  you  were  very  careful  how  you 
picked  them?" 

"Yes,  very.  We  shook  them  into  a  basket. 
Those  that  were  bruised,  Aunt  Grenertsen  said 
we  might  have." 

"  Did  she  ?  And  how  many  did  Aunt  Grenert- 
sen get?" 

"Oh"  —  Further  probing  on  Mother's  part 
to  find  out  what  Aunt  Grenertsen's  share  of  the 
harvest  had  amounted  to,  drew  forth  the  truth, 
uttered  with  a  show  of  enthusiasm. 

"She  had  quite  a  good  many  —  eight  big 
beautiful  apples  —  and  six  of  them  hadn't  the 
least  speck  of  a  bruise  on  them  anywhere." 

"  But  poor  Auntie !  Do  you  mean  to  say  she 
had  only  eight  apples  for  herself?  And  she  so  fond 
of  them  too !  How  in  the  world  could  that  hap- 
pen when  there  was  so  much  fruit  on  the  tree?" 


56  JOHNNY  BLOSSOM 

"It  was  queer  there  weren't  more,  but  none 
of  the  apples  would  fall  in  the  basket,  and  they 
would  whack  right  down  on  the  ground,  and  so 
they  got  bruised  —  and  then  we  ate  them,  you 
see,  Mother." 

L  "Oh !  I  am  really  sorry  for  Aunt  Grenertsen," 
said  Mother.  "I  must  see  if  I  can't  find  some- 
thing good  to  send  her  to  make  up  for  this.  It 
was  not  at  all  nice  of  you,  John  —  not  at  all 
kind.  Poor  Aunt  Grenertsen  who  is  so  lonely 
and  has  so  little  of  everything ! " 

Johnny  Blossom  blinked  hard.  He  began  to 
feel  disgusted  with  himself.  Just  think  of  Aunt 
Grenertsen's  being  very  fond  of  apples  —  and  of 
Mother's  feeling  so  sorry  for  her!  Suddenly  he 
rushed  from  the  door.  Perhaps  Tellef  had  some 
apples  left.  Not  even  a  core  remained  of  his 
own. 

Pshaw!  At  Tellef's  they  had  eaten  all  the 
apples  immediately  on  Tellef's  arrival  with 
them. 

How  trying  it  was  that  Aunt  Grenertsen 
should  be  so  particularly  fond  of  apples!  Poor 
thing!  And  besides,  she  was  lonely,  Mother  had 
said,  and  had  very  little  money.  It  was  too  bad. 

If  he  only  had  something  to  give  her  —  he 
himself.  Of  course  Mother  would  find  some- 


AUNT  GRENERTSEN'S  APPLES  57 

thing,  but  he  would  like  to,  too.  He  hadn't  a 
cent  in  his  bank.  What  few  cents  he  had  saved 
had  all  been  poked  out  long  since,  and  he  hadn't 
anything  else  either.  Well,  yes,  he  had  that  fine 
new  cake  of  India  ink  Father  had  just  given 
him;  but  Aunt  Grenertsen  surely  did  not  draw 
with  India  ink. 

There !  Now  he  had  an  idea.  She  should  have 
that  rare  postage  stamp  from  Mozambique, 
she  certainly  should!  The  whole  class  and 
some  of  the  big  boys  envied  him  his  posses- 
sion of  that  stamp  and  had  begged  and  begged 
for  it;  but  not  one  of  them  should  get  it,  no 
indeed ! 

He  found  an  old  pill  box,  laid  the  Mozambique 
stamp  carefully  in  it,  and  ran  straightway  to 
King  Street. 

Everything  was  as  usual.  He  could  scarcely 
bear  to  look  at  the  tree  he  had  gathered  the  fruit 
from,  but  finding  two  apples  on  the  ground 
under  the  other  tree,  he  picked  them  up  and 
took  them  into  the  house.  He  certainly  wasn't 
going  to  eat  any  more  of  Aunt  Grenertsen's 
apples. 

"Good  afternoon,  Aunt  Grenertsen." 
"Oh,  is  that  you,  back  here  already?" 
"I  found  these  apples  out  in  the  garden." 


58  JOHNNY  BLOSSOM 

Aunt  Grenertsen  looked  at  them  over  her 
glasses. 

"H'm  —  they  are  not  bruised,  these  two." 

Johnny  Blossom  made  no  answer  to  this 
remark,  but  got  up  quickly  from  his  chair  by  the 
door  and  went  over  to  the  window  where  Aunt 
Grenertsen  sat. 

"I  thought  you  might  like  to  have  this." 
And  Johnny  Blossom  placed  the  pill  box  on  the 
table  and  gazed  expectantly  into  Aunt  Gren- 
ertsen's  wrinkled  face. 

"Pills?"  said  Aunt  Grenertsen.  "I  have  never 
taken  pills  in  all  my  long  life." 

"It  isn't  pills,  it  isn't  pills!"  exclaimed  Johnny 
Blossom,  hopping  about  on  one  foot  with  joy, 
because  Aunt  Grenertsen  would  be  so  pleased 
when  she  saw  what  it  was. 

"Just  look  inside!    Just  look!"  he  continued. 

Aunt  Grenertsen  opened  the  box. 

"An  old  postage  stamp,"  said  she. 

"Oh,  it's  a  Mozambique  stamp,  Aunt  Gren- 
ertsen," explained  Johnny  Blossom  earnestly. 
"It  is  awfully  rare.  There  isn't  another  one  in 
the  whole  town,  Aunt  Grenertsen." 

"Indeed?"  Aunt  Grenertsen  looked  at  the 
little  old  stamp  dubiously,  turning  it  round  and 
round. 


AUNT  GRENERTSEN'S  APPLES  59 

"But  why  do  you  give  it  to  me,  Johnny 
Blossom?" 

"Oh,  because — because  you  only  got  eight 
apples,  and  Mother  said" — 

"What  did  Mother  say?" 

"Mother  said  that  you  liked  apples  so  much 
— and  that  you  were  lonely;  and,  besides,  I  was 
ashamed  of  myself  because  Tellef  and  I  had 
eaten  so  many  of  your  apples." 

"And  so  you  want  to  give  me  this  stamp?" 

"Yes.  Isn't  it  interesting,  Aunt  Grenertsen? 
Isn't  it  a  beauty?" 

He  stood  behind  her  chair,  looking  eagerly 
over  her  shoulder  at  the  stamp. 

"Aren't  you  glad  to  have  it?" 

"Yes,  indeed;  I  thank  you  very  much.  And 
I  want  you  to  have  a  half  moon  today." 

"Oh,  no.    I  don't  want  anything." 

"Yes,  you  surely  must  have  one." 

The  "half  moon"  was  brought  forthwith  and 
was  eaten  with  great  relish. 

Light-hearted  now,  Johnny  Blossom  ran 
through  the  garden,  fastening  the  gate  carefully, 
while  at  the  window  an  old  face  peered  out  from 
among  the  plants,  through  tear-misted  spectacles. 
Then  Aunt  Grenertsen  took  the  stamp  and  pasted 
it  on  the  window  pane  nearest  where  she  sat. 


60  JOHNNY  BLOSSOM 

"That  is  a  reminder  of  you,"  she  said  later 
to  Johnny  Blossom.  And  Johnny  was  proud  to 
think  that  the  interesting  and  rare  Mozambique 
stamp  should  be  a  reminder  of  him. 

But  how  queer  old  people  are!  thought 
Johnny  Blossom. 


CHAPTErR  V 

TKe  Red  Buoy 


NY     ONE 

would   be 

sick  of  it! 
thought  Johnny 
Blossom.  He 
couldn't  even  appear 
in  the  street  with- 
out people  rushing 
to  him  to  question 
and  pry  as  to  how  it 
had  happened,  and 
how  he  had  felt  that  time  he  lay  out  on  the 
red  buoy  and  they  all  thought  at  home  that 
he  was  drowned.  He  was  completely  sick 
of  it. 

Even  the  minister  had  stopped  him  and 
questioned  and  quizzed  like  the  rest;  and  when 
he  had  finished,  he  hit  Johnny  Blossom  on  the 
back  with  his  cane  (not  hard,  you  know)  and 

61 


62  JOHNNY  BLOSSOM 

said:  "You  surely  are  a  little  rascal,  Johnny 
Blossom!" 

Indeed  he  wasn't  a  rascal.  The  whole  thing 
had  just  happened  of  itself.  It  was  no  plan  of 
his,  but  it  was  just  as  unlucky  as  if  it  had  been. 

The  new  postmaster's  sons  were  at  the  bottom 
of  it  really.  Such  pipestems  from  Christiania 
don't  know  anything  anyway — and  they  get 
scared  so  easily!  That's  why  they  lose  their 
wits  when  they  get  into  trouble.  No  one  would 
believe  how  silly  they  were!  Still,  they  were 
good-natured  and  ready  to  join  in  anything, 
so  they  were  jolly  enough  playfellows  after  all. 

Early  one  afternoon  the  three  boys,  Olaf,  Her- 
man, and  Johnny,  had  a  great  desire  to  go  row- 
ing. They  peered  everywhere  around  the  wharf 
for  a  boat  that  they  could  use.  Not  a  sign  of 
one  was  to  be  seen ;  not  a  boat  of  any  kind  — 
to  say  nothing  of  one  that  they  could  borrow 
in  such  a  hurry.  So  they  went  round  to  the  Cus- 
tom House  wharf.  True  as  you  live,  there  lay 
a  dory,  with  oars  and  everything,  right  down 
at  the  foot  of  the  little  steps.  They  wouldn't 
have  dared  to  think  of  taking  the  boat  if  it  had 
been  at  the  big  Custom  House  steps,  but  since 
it  was  at  the  little  steps  near  the  warehouse,  it 
was  probably  not  a  Custom  House  boat  at  all. 


THE  RED  BUOY  63 

Johnny  Blossom,  for  his  part,  was  quite  sure  it 
was  not. 

"Well,  we'll  take  her,"  said  Olaf. 

It  was  a  fine  little  boat.  Johnny  was  captain 
and  commanded  grandly,  giving  many  orders 
to  the  postmaster's  sons  —  those  silly  pipestems 
from  Christiania,  who  did  not  know  anything. 

Oh!  there  was  the  big  English  coal  steamer 
that  had  been  lying  at  the  wharf  several  days 
unloading  coal.  Too  bad  that  he  had  not  had 
a  chance  to  go  on  board  that  steamer!  He  had 
tried  to  go  a  number  of  times,  but  there  was 
always  one  or  another  grimy  sailor  who  chased 
him  ashore.  Ugh!  Englishmen  were  horrid! 
The  steamer  was  unloaded  now  and  would  surely 
sail  tonight. 

Farther  out  rowed  the  boys.  Johnny  Blossom 
boasted  of  the  ships  that  sailed  from  the  town, 
of  the  sea,  and  of  the  church  tower  that  was  the 
highest  in  Scandinavia,  and  the  postmaster's 
boys  boasted  of  the  wonders  of  Christiania ;  and 
everything  was  very  jolly  indeed.  They  rowed 
past  the  big  red  buoy  that  lay  farthest  out  —  the 
buoy  that  is  like  an  immense  red  pear  floating 
and  rocking  on  the  water. 

"Would  you  dare  sit  up  on  the  big  red  pear?" 
asked  Olaf. 


64  JOHNNY  BLOSSOM 

"Pooh!  That's  nothing  to  do,"  said  Johnny 
Blossom. 

"  Yes,  but  sit  there  alone  while  we  row  away?" 
said  Olaf. 

"You  shall  soon  see  whether  I  dare  or  not," 
returned  Johnny. 

They  rowed  to  the  buoy  and  he  climbed  out 
upon  it. 

"  Now  row  away,  row  as  far  away  as  you  like. 
It  is  perfectly  glorious  sitting  here!" 

Olaf  and  Herman  plied  the  oars  as  hard  as  they 
could,  while  Johnny  Blossom  sat  proudly  erect 
upon  the  "red  pear."  He  had  never  thought  of 
its  being  possible  for  any  one  to  sit  here.  Just 
think,  only  water  far  and  wide  around  him !  Yet 
here  he  sat  entirely  at  his  ease,  could  sit  here 
just  the  same  if  a  storm  should  blow  up — that 
would  be  a  small  matter  for  Johnny  Blossom. 
Now  that  the  boys  were  away  off  behind  the  big 
coal  steamer,  any  one  might  wonder  how  much 
farther  they  meant  to  row. 

The  wind  began  to  blow  and  the  pear  rocked 
up  and  down.  It  was  queer  the  way  there  came 
a  whack  from  the  sea  against  the  buoy  with 
every  wave.  The  pear  rocked  more  and  more. 
My!  oh,  my!  how  the  sea  hit  against  it  now! 
Almost  hard  enough  to  send  the  spray  away  up 


THE  RED  BUOY  65 

to  him.  What  had  become  of  those  silly  post- 
master's boys  ?  He  could  see  nothing  of  the  boat 
anywhere.  It  was  probably  behind  the  wharf. 
Not  a  person  was  to  be  seen  on  the  wharf  now, 
either.  It  was  so  late  that  every  one  had  gone 
home. 

Johnny  Blossom  shouted:  "Olaf!  Herman!" 
No  answer,  only  the  sea's  pounding.  A  big 
wave  dashed  over  his  legs,  and  the  pear  rocked 
and  plunged  frightfully. 

All  at  once  Johnny  Blossom  was  afraid.  Not 
a  little  afraid,  but  overwhelmed  with  great  fear. 
Here  he  was  alone  out  in  the  midst  of  the  wide 
waters,  with  no  one  to  see  him,  no  one  to  hear 
him,  and  no  one  to  help  him.  A  great  wave 
struck  against  the  buoy,  leaving  his  stockings 
dripping  wet  up  to  the  knees. 

"Oh,  Mother!  Mother!"  screamed  Johnny  in 
terror. 

Another  wave  came  —  a  stronger  one  —  and 
dashed  even  higher.  He  would  be  safer,  perhaps, 
if  he  lay  on  his  stomach  and  stuck  his  arms 
through  the  big  ring  that  they  fastened  the 
ship's  ropes  to. 

Oh,  if  he  were  only  at  home !  Oh,  those  wicked 
postmaster's  boys  who  had  rowed  away  and  left 
him !  They  should  get  their  pay  when  —  but 


66  JOHNNY  BLOSSOM 

suppose  he  should  die  now!  "Our  Father  who 
art  in  heaven."  Johnny  Blossom,  with  eyes 
closed,  said  the  whole  of  the  Lord's  Prayer  as 
he  lay  on  his  stomach  on  the  red  buoy.  Now 
surely  God  would  help  him. 

The  buoy  swayed  and  dipped  and  the  wind 
howled.  Suddenly  he  heard  a  different  sound 
and  turned  swiftly  to  look.  There  was  a  boat 
right  off  there.  Oh,  if  only!  — 

It  was  some  Englishmen  from  the  big  coal 
steamer,  and  they  were  rowing  straight  toward 
the  buoy,  talking  fast.  Pshaw!  how  stupid  it 
is  when  people  talk  English.  Without  waiting 
to  say,  "By  your  leave,"  they  took  Johnny 
Blossom  from  the  buoy,  put  him  into  their  boat, 
and  rowed  directly  to  the  steamship.  One  of  the 
sailors  scooped  up  some  salt  water  in  his  hand 
and  splashed  it  over  Johnny  Blossom's  tear- 
streaked  face  and  laughed.  Then  Johnny 
laughed,  too. 

If  it  were  only  German  the  men  spoke!  He 
had  studied  German  for  a  half  year  now  and 
could  have  managed  with  that  language  pretty 
well,  he  thought. 

Here  they  were  alongside  the  steamer.  Well, 
Johnny  Blossom  hadn't  the  least  objection. 
How  Olaf  and  Herman  would  envy  him,  that  he 


THE  RED  BUOY  67 

should  go  on  board  the  big  ship  after  all!  The 
steamer  was  full  of  sailors  who  talked  and 
laughed  and  tumbled  him  about  in  rough  play 
till  Johnny  Blossom  bubbled  over  with  merry 
laughter  that  rang  through  the  whole  ship. 

Soon  a  man  took  him  to  the  upper  deck  to 
the  stout,  ruddy  captain  whom  Johnny  Blossom 
knew  from  having  seen  him  on  the  street  in  the 
town.  He  pinched  Johnny's  ear  and  said  a  great 
many  funny  words  to  him,  just  as  the  other 
Englishmen  had.  Johnny  pointed  to  the  red 
buoy  and  shook  his  head  for  "No,"  and  pointed 
toward  the  town  and  nodded  for  "Yes."  With 
this  he  felt  sure  that  the  captain  must  know  how 
the  matter  stood. 

An  oldish  looking  man  wished  Johnny  to  go 
below  with  him,  and  naturally  Johnny  did  not 
need  to  be  asked  twice,  even  by  signs!  It  was 
wonderful  down  there.  He  had  never  imagined 
there  could  be  anything  so  fine  on  the  dirty  coal 
steamer;  and  just  think!  some  crackers  were 
brought  out,  and  then  if  that  funny  man  didn't 
set  a  whole  jar  of  preserves  before  him,  too,  and 
give  him  a  spoon !  My,  oh,  my !  Mother  ought 
to  see  him  now,  eating  with  a  big  spoon  right 
from  the  preserve  jar! 

Johnny   Blossom   ate    plentifully,  while    the 


68  JOHNNY  BLOSSOM 

strange  man  sat  opposite  with  elbows  on  the 
table,  looking  at  him  and  smiling.  Suddenly 
the  man  took  out  a  leather  case  and  from  it  a 
photograph,  which  he  handed  across  the  table  to 
Johnny.  It  showed  two  boys  about  Johnny's 
age.  The  man  pointed  to  the  boys  and  then  to 
himself  and  smiled  again,  and  Johnny  under- 
stood that  these  were  his  boys. 

How  curious  to  think  that  this  man  had  two 
boys  and  that  they  were  English !  He  certainly 
was  very  fond  of  them  —  this  queer  man  with 
the  gray  beard.  Now  he  put  the  photograph 
into  the  case  again  and  into  his  pocket,  slapped 
his  breast  and  smiled.  Englishmen  were  cer- 
tainly odd,  thought  Johnny.  And  those  boys  — 
just  boys  like  himself  —  could  speak  English 
without  studying  it.  Think  of  that ! 

The  man  then  showed  Johnny  over  the  whole 
steamer.  Above  one  of  the  hammocks  hung  a 
picture  of  the  same  two  boys;  and  when  they 
came  to  this,  the  man  laughed  again  and  laid 
his  hand  upon  his  heart. 

Then  he  gave  Johnny  a  whistle  —  a  regular 
boatswain's  whistle.  He  put  it  right  into  John- 
ny's pocket,  and  of  course  that  meant  that  he 
wanted  to  give  it  to  him.  So  Johnny  Blossom 
shook  hands  with  him  and  bowed  his  thanks. 


THE  RED  BUOY  69 

Ah !  this  would  be  something  to  show  to  the  boys 
at  school.  How  he  would  blow  and  play  on  it. 

How  awfully  good  to  him  this  man  was! 
Johnny  would  like  to  ask  him  to  take  his 
greeting  to  those  two  boys.  So  Johnny  pointed 
to  the  picture  over  the  hammock,  then  to  him- 
self, and  then  far  out  over  the  sea,  with  his 
little  arm  stretched  at  full  length.  There!  the 
man  must  surely  understand  anything  as  plain 
as  that. 

At  this  moment  one  of  the  sailors  came  to 
take  Johnny  Blossom  up  on  deck  again,  for  the 
row  boat  was  going  to  the  shore  and  Johnny  was 
to  go  in  it.  He  shook  hands  with  all  the  sailors 
and  bowed  and  said  "Thank  you."  When  he 
was  in  the  row  boat,  the  ship's  deck  was  full  of 
grimy-faced  men,  who  stretched  over  the  rail- 
ing to  look  down  at  him. 

Johnny  Blossom  swung  his  cap,  then  suddenly 
remembering  his  whistle,  took  that  out  and  blew 
it  hard.  Then  he  laughed  heartily  and  blew  it 
once  more.  All  the  black  faces  up  at  the  railing 
laughed  also.  After  this  farewell  the  boat  was 
rowed  to  the  shore  and  Johnny  Blossom  was 
soon  running  up  the  street. 

Then  began  all  the  hue  and  cry.  First, 
Squire  Levorson  stopped  him.  "What  in  the 


70  JOHNNY  BLOSSOM 

world!  Is  this  you?  They  are  saying  all  over 
town  that  you  are  at  the  bottom  of  the  sea." 

"Far  from  it,"  answered  Johnny  Blossom, 
somewhat  offended. 

Next  it  was  the  telegraph  operator,  Mr. 
Nilsen.  "Well,  I  must  say!  If  here  isn't  the 
person  every  one  is  talking  about  —  and  as 
large  as  life!" 

Pshaw !  how  silly  people  were !  And  now  came 
Olea,  the  cook  from  his  own  home,  weeping  and 
wailing  aloud.  When  she  saw  him  she  was  ready 
to  drop  with  astonishment.  "Oh,  you  angel 
John!  Are  you  risen  from  the  dead?  They 
brought  us  word  that  you  were  drowned." 

"Not  a  bit,"  said  John.  "It  was  the  fault  of 
the  postmaster's  boys  entirely.  See  what  I've 
got."  And  Johnny  Blossom  took  his  English 
boatswain's  whistle  out  and  blew  it,  with  beam- 
ing face. 

No  one  was  in  the  sitting  room  at  home,  nor 
in  the  library;  but  from  Mother's  room  there 
came  a  sound  as  of  some  one  crying.  Johnny 
Blossom  tramped  in.  There  lay  Mother  on  the 
couch,  and  Father  sat  by  her  side,  and  they  were 
both  sobbing  as  hard  as  they  could. 

"John!"  screamed  Mother,  starting  up.  "Oh, 
Johnny!  my  boy,  my  boy!  Is  it  really  you?" 


THE  RED  BUOY  71 

"Thought  I  was  drowned,  did  you?"  said 
Johnny  Blossom  loftily.  "It  never  entered  my 
head  till  afterwards  that  any  one  could  get 
drowned  sitting  on  the  big  red  pear,  you  know. 
Mother,  see  here." 

A  frightfully  piercing  whistle  resounded  in 
the  little  room. 

"Would  you  like  to  hear  it  again?"  asked 
Johnny,  radiant. 

"No,  no!"  said  Mother,  with  hands  on  both 
ears. 

Just  then  Father  grabbed  John  by  the  shoul- 
der. Ugh !  it  was  horrid  when  Father  took  hold 
that  way,  for  it  usually  meant  a  whipping. 

"Do  you  know  what  you  deserve?"  asked 
Father.  Not  a  sound  in  reply.  "You  shall 
escape  this  time,"  continued  Father.  "I  think 
you  will  remember  your  Mother's  tears  now 
better  than  a  whipping ;  but  another  time  — 
do  you  hear?" 

:<Yes."  Johnny  stared  at  his  mother's  tear- 
stained  face. 

"The  postmaster  and  his  boys  came  here  and 
said  that  you  had  climbed  up  on  the  buoy 
farthest  out.  The  boys  had  rowed  back  toward 
shore  just  for  fun,  but  they  met  a  man  in  a  row 
boat  who  nabbed  them  because  they  had  taken 


72  JOHNNY  BLOSSOM 

the  Custom  House  boat.  The  boys  didn't  say 
anything  to  him  about  you,  sitting  out  there 
on  the  buoy"  — 

"There!  Now  you  can  see  how  stupid  they 
are,"  interrupted  Johnny  Blossom. 

"They  ran  home,  crying,  and  told  that  you 
were  out  on  the  '  red  pear ' ;  but  when  the  post- 
master had  got  a  boat  and  rowed  out  you  were 
gone." 

"I  was  on  board  the  coal  steamer  —  that's 
where  I  was.  His  name  is  Hobborn,  Mother, 
and  just  listen!  he  set  a  big  jar  of  preserves 
before  me  —  I  think  it  was  raspberries  —  and 
I  ate  a  lot,  and  then  he  gave  me  this  whistle. 
Now  I'll  blow  it."  An  ear-splitting  blast 
followed. 

Mother  hugged  him  to  her  and  kissed  him. 
"But  that  was  a  horrible  present,  John,"  she 
said,  pointing  to  the  whistle. 

"Far  from  it,"  said  John,  "for  now  I  need 
never  be  in  danger  any  more  if  I  just  whistle. 
If  I  had  had  this  when  I  lay  out  on  the  red  pear, 
no  one  would  ever  have  imagined  I  was  drowned. 
A  very  useful  present,  it  seems  to  me,  and 
delightful." 

"I  can  scarcely  call  it  delightful,"  said  Mother. 
All  the  rest  of  that  afternoon,  the  sound  of 


THE  RED  BUOY  73 

whistling,  incessant  and  penetrating,  filled  the 
pine  grove.  Blowing  the  English  whistle  in  the 
house  at  any  time  was  strictly  forbidden. 

In  Johnny  Blossom's  opinion,  after  his  ex- 
perience on  the  coal  steamer,  Englishmen  were 
the  most  delightful  people  on  the  face  of  the 
globe. 


ft 

CHAPTCR,     VI 

Johrvrvy  Blossorrx's 
CKri&tmas  Preserves 


Y,  oh,  my !  Tomorrow  would  be  the  day 
before  Christmas  and  Johnny  Blossom 
hadn't  thought  about  a  single  present 
yet,  for  any  one.  He  would  have  to  hurry  now, 
though  after  all  he  wasn't  in  such  a  bad  fix,  for 
he  had  some  money  —  fifty  cents,  in  fact  —  and 
that  was  surely  enough  and  to  spare. 

He  ought  to  give  twelve  Christmas  presents 
in  all :  to  Father  and  Mother,  three  sisters,  both 
the  maids,  Jeremias  the  wood-cutter,  Uncle  Isaac 
of  Kingthorpe,  Miss  Melling  (Uncle's  house- 
keeper), Miss  Jorgensen,  who  stayed  with 
them  last  summer,  and  Tellef,  his  special  boy 
friend. 

This  wasn't  the  first  year  he  had  given  pres- 
ents, no,  indeed!  He  had  given  some  last  year 
and  the  year  before,  but  then  Mother  had  helped 
him.  This  year  he  was  going  to  plan  them  all  by 
himself.  Not  a  single  person,  not  even  Mother, 
should  get  the  least  idea  of  any  of  the  presents 
beforehand. 

74 


JOHNNTS  CHRISTMAS  PRESENTS         75 

After  all,  should  he  give  Miss  Jorgensen  a 
present  or  not?  Miss  Melling  there  was  no 
question  about.  She  was  always  giving  him 
presents,  and  she  wasn't  the  worst  person  in  the 
world,  even  if  she  was  so  fussy  about  boys 
wiping  their  feet.  The  last  time  he  was  at 
Kingthorpe  she  had  given  him  a  silver  pencil 
holder  without  any  reason  whatever!  It  wasn't 
his  birthday  or  anything.  Yes,  he  would  cer- 
tainly give  her  something  —  that  was  settled. 

The  hardest  to  find  presents  for  were  Uncle 
Isaac  and  Jeremias.  Poor  Jeremias  was  sick 
now ;  he  had  been  in  bed  for  a  whole  month  with 
pains  in  his  back  and  everywhere.  Johnny 
Blossom  had  been  to  his  house  to  see  him  every 
day  that  he  had  thought  of  it,  and  that  was 
almost  every  day.  Jeremias  lay  there  alone  all 
day  long,  except  that  Maria  Kopp  went  in  morn- 
ing and  evening  to  look  after  him  a  little.  It 
was  easy  enough  to  get  into  the  little  house, 
for  it  was  never  locked.  Any  one  could  lift  the 
latch  and  step  in;  then  the  thing  to  do  was  to 
get  Jeremias  a  dipper  of  water  and  to  fix  up  the 
fire.  Jeremias  would  say,  "Thank  you  kindly, 
sir"  (he  always  said  that),  and  then  Johnny 
Blossom  would  dash  out,  fastening  the  door 
again  with  only  the  heavy  old  latch. 


76  JOHNNY  BLOSSOM 

At  home  that  day  they  had  been  baking  the 
Christmas  cakes.  Johnny  Blossom  had  eaten 
not  a  little  of  the  raw  dough,  and  his  sister  Asta 
and  he  had  made  some  cakes  of  remarkable 
shapes  (though  rather  dingy  from  much  han- 
dling), which  they  were  allowed  to  bake. 

It  was  while  they  were  busy  with  the  cakes 
that  it  had  dawned  upon  Johnny  Blossom  that 
there  was  no  time  to  spare,  and  that  he  must 
decide  upon  his  presents  at  once. 

The  present  for  Father  was  an  easy  matter. 
The  ruler  that  Johnny  had  just  finished  in  the 
sloyd  class  was  exactly  the  thing;  and  Mother 
should  have  the  knife  box.  Carve  their  names 
nicely  on  the  things,  and  those  two  presents 
would  be  ready. 

Then  he  would  make  —  h'm  —  seven  baskets 
of  pretty  colored  paper  and  fill  them  with 
peppermint  drops.  Everybody  liked  pepper- 
mint drops. 

This  left  only  Uncle  Isaac  and  Jeremias  and 
Tellef,  and  there  would  be  about  twenty  cents 
to  spend  on  their  presents.  Oh,  yes!  He  could 
manage  very  well. 

Suddenly  he  had  a  brilliant  idea.  That 
beautiful  frame  that  he  had  carved  in  the  au- 
tumn, he  would  give  that  to  Uncle  Isaac,  with 


JOHNNY'S  CHRISTMAS  PRESENTS          77 

a  pretty  card  on  which  he  would  write:  "A 
hearty  Christmas  greeting  from  an  affectionate 
boy.  Johnny  Blossom." 

Jeremias  should  also  have  a  beautiful  card, 
but  that  would  have  to  have  a  frame  of  paper 
pasted  round  it.  And  on  the  card  there  should 
be  a  text  from  the  Bible,  because  Jeremias  was 
so  awfully  fond  of  texts.  If  he  could  only  find 
the  right  one!  At  first  he  thought  he  should 
have  to  ask  his  mother,  but  decided  that  he 
would  choose  one  all  by  himself. 

There !  he  had  it !  Not  that  he  was  altogether 
sure  of  its  being  a  text  exactly,  but  it  was  so 
beautiful !  Then  Johnny  Blossom,  with  his  head 
on  one  side,  his  little  snub  nose  almost  touching 
the  paper,  wrote,  with  extraordinary  slowness, 
because  the  writing  was  to  be  so  very,  very  good : 

God  will  never y  never  forsake  thee. 

Pshaw!  That  was  always  the  way!  The 
more  pains  you  took,  the  worse  was  the  writing. 
Some  of  the  letters  were  awfully  small  and 
crooked  and  others  were  too  big ;  and  the  whole 
thing  slanted  down  hill  so  that  there  was  scarcely 
room  for  his  name  underneath  in  the  corner; 
and  of  course  his  name  must  be  there. 

Well,  there  was  nothing  to  do  about  it.    He 


78  JOHNNY  BLOSSOM 

had  no  more  cards  so  he  should  have  to  use  this. 
With  a  dark  brown  paper  frame  and  a  red  cord 
it  would  not  be  so  bad  after  all.  Johnny  Blossom 
put  his  head  first  on  one  side  and  then  on  the 
other  and  scrutinized  the  card  as  a  whole.  No, 
it  really  was  not  bad. 

For  Tellef  he  would  buy  some  dates  —  they 
were  so  good  —  and  with  this  settled,  all  his 
presents  were  planned. 

On  the  day  before  Christmas,  big,  soft  snow- 
flakes  drifted  slowly  down  from  a  lowering  gray 
sky.  The  snow  melted  as  soon  as  it  fell,  and  from 
the  sea  a  raw,  wet  wind  came  whining  in;  but 
there  might  have  been  worse  weather,  and 
Johnny  Blossom,  at  any  rate,  was  well  content. 
He  was  going  out  to  distribute  his  presents 
today.  It  was  so  pleasant  to  take  them  himself 
to  the  different  persons. 

First  he  went  to  Miss  Jorgensen's,  for  she 
lived  nearest,  in  her  own  tiny  white  house.  She 
was  in  the  kitchen  washing  dishes  when  Johnny 
Blossom's  little  nose  showed  itself  at  the  kitchen 
door. 

"Well,  well!    Is  it  you?" 

Yes,  it  was  he,  and  would  she  accept  a  little 
Christmas  present?  Johnny  Blossom  held  out 


JOHNNY    BLOSSOMS    CHRISTMAS    PRESENTS 


JOHNNrS  CHRISTMAS  PRESENTS        79 

to  her  the  fancy  paper  basket  filled  with  pepper- 
mint drops. 

"  Set  it  down  somewhere  —  my  hands  are 
wet.  I  never  eat  peppermint  candy,  but  I  thank 
you  all  the  same.  Is  every  one  well  at  home?" 

"Yes,  very  well." 

Johnny  Blossom  took  his  leave  in  some  dis- 
appointment. Miss  Jorgensen  wasn't  a  bit  nice 
—  she  was  simply  horrid.  Oh,  well,  he  didn't 
mind.  Anyway,  she  couldn't  say  that  no  one 
had  given  her  a  Christmas  present. 

Johnny  Blossom  went  on  to  Jeremias  the 
wood-cutter's.  The  wind  blew  straight  into  the 
room  the  minute  the  door  was  opened,  and 
Jeremias  groaned.  He  looked  awfully  old  today. 
Very  gray  indeed  was  his  stubby  beard  and  very 
dull  were  his  eyes  as  he  lay  there  on  his  blue 
pillow. 

"Have  you  come  to  see  me  in  all  this  bad 
weather?"  said  Jeremias. 

"This  is  delightful  weather,"  said  Johnny 
Blossom,  although  just  then  another  wild  gust  of 
wind  made  Jeremias's  little  house  shake  violently. 

"Here  is  a  Christmas  present  for  you,"  said 
John.  "It  is  to  hang  on  the  wall  so  you  can  see 
it,  Jeremias.  Isn't  it  pretty?" 

"Yes,  indeed,  that's  a  fine  piece  of  work!" 


80  JOHNNY  BLOSSOM 

"  Did  it  all  myself,"  said  Johnny  Blossom,  with 
some  pride. 

"Well,  well!  You  do  know  how  to  make 
things!"  said  Jeremias  admiringly. 

A  nail  was  driven  in  the  wall  near  the  one 
that  held  the  big  silver  watch,  and  the  Christ- 
mas present  was  hung  on  it  at  once  in  plain 
sight. 

"God  will  never,  never  forsake  thee,"  read 
Jeremias  as  his  crooked  old  finger  pointed  along 
the  slanting  line.  "There  is  balm  in  those 
words,  Johnny  Blossom/'  he  said  slowly. 

Old  people  were  queer,  thought  John,  for 
"balm"  was  something  that  was  used  for  wounds 
—  he  knew  that  very  well  —  and  yet  there  lay 
Jeremias  and  said  that  there  was  balm  in  those 
words,  "God  will  never,  never  forsake  thee." 

"Yes,"  said  Johnny  Blossom,  for  he  saw  that 
Jeremias  expected  him  to  answer. 

It  really  looked  very  pretty  hanging  there 
on  the  wall. 

"How  do  they  manage  about  the  wood  at 
your  house  nowadays?"  asked  Jeremias. 

"Oh,  very  well,"  replied  John.  Then  he 
happened  to  think  that  Jeremias  might  be  dis- 
appointed to  hear  that  it  made  no  difference 
whether  he  was  able  to  look  after  the  wood  or 


JOHNNY'S  CHRISTMAS  PRESENTS         81 

not,  so  Johnny  added  quickly,  "Mother  says 
that  they  don't  split  the  wood  fine  enough." 

Jeremias  was  plainly  enlivened.  "There! 
Isn't  that  what  I  have  always  said!"  he 
exclaimed.  "Wood  should  be  split  just  so. 
Kindlings  ought  to  be  light  and  pleasant  and 
coquettish  to  make  the  fire  dance." 

"Yes,"  said  Johnny  Blossom. 

What  a  great  one  Jeremias  was  to  use  queer 
words ! 

"Well,  Merry  Christmas,  Jeremias!" 

"Thank  you  kindly,  sir.  It  won't  be  lone- 
some now  that  I  have  that  to  look  at,"  and  his 
crooked  finger  pointed  up  to  the  little  brown 
paper  frame  hanging  by  its  red  cord. 

John  now  started  on  his  way  to  Kingthorpe. 
One  of  his  pockets  was  weighted  down  with  a 
big  cornucopia  of  dates,  for  he  planned  to  drop 
in  at  Tellef's  on  his  way  home ;  and  from  another 
pocket  protruded  the  greater  portion  of  the 
frame  he  was  to  present  to  Uncle  Isaac. 

Kingthorpe  was  quiet  and  stately  and  a  little 
awe-inspiring  as  usual.  Miss  Melling  had  gone 
to  town  and  Uncle  Isaac  was  ill  in  bed.  After 
a  little  thought,  Johnny  Blossom  sent  the  frame 
in  to  his  uncle  by  the  servant,  with  his  best 
Christmas  wishes.  The  servant  was  in  livery 


82  JOHNNY  BLOSSOM 

and  always  carried  a  silver  tray  in  his  hand. 
Even  when  Uncle  Isaac  had  nothing  but  gruel, 
he  had  it  on  a  silver  tray ! 

Johnny  Blossom  was  nearly  out  of  the 
grounds  on  his  way  home  when  the  servant 
came  running  after  him  to  tell  him  that  his 
uncle  wanted  him.  Johnny  turned  back  with 
great  delight.  He  had  known  well  enough 
that  Uncle  Isaac  would  wish  to  see  him  after 
receiving  such  a  beautiful  present. 

Uncle  Isaac  lay  in  the  big  carved  bedstead. 
My,  oh,  my!  how  pale  he  was!  almost  as  pale 
as  Jeremias  the  wood-cutter. 

"Sit  here  beside  me,"  said  Uncle  Isaac. 
"Thank  you  very  much  for  this  beautiful 
Christmas  present."  The  frame  stood  on  a  table 
near  the  bed. 

"Yes,  but  you  mustn't  look  at  that  corner, 
for  there's  a  tiny  piece  off  there;  nor  right 
there  either;  and  here  it  is  badly  carved,  as 
you  see,  Uncle  Isaac.  But  if  you  hold  it  like 
this  and  just  look  at  the  whole  —  why,  it  isn't 
so  bad,"  said  Johnny  Blossom,  beaming. 

"I  will  remember,"  said  Uncle  Isaac.  "I 
am  to  hold  it  sideways  and  just  get  the  general 
view  when  I  look  at  it." 

"The  writing  might  have  been  nicer,  too," 


JOHNNrS  CHRISTMAS  PRESENTS        83 

said  Johnny  apologetically,  "but  I  had  such  a 
scratchy,  bad  pen." 

"I  like  it  very  much  just  as  it  is,"  replied 
Uncle  Isaac. 

There  came  a  little  pause.  Johnny  felt  some- 
what abashed  and  scarcely  knew  what  to  talk 
about. 

"  Jeremias  the  wood-cutter  is  ill  in  bed,  too," 
he  said  suddenly. 

"Is  that  one  of  your  acquaintances?" 

"Yes.  I  know  him  very  well.  I  go  in  to  see 
him  almost  every  day." 

"Tell  me  a  little  about  him." 

"He  has  pains  in  his  back  —  right  there  — 
tearing  his  back  to  pieces,  he  says;  and  he  lies 
there  alone  all  day  except  when  Maria  Kopp 
or  I  go  to  see  to  him.  His  house  is  never  locked ; 
any  one  can  go  right  in.  I've  just  been  there 
with  a  Christmas  present  for  him." 

"What  did  you  give  him,  little  John?" 

"A  Bible  text  in  a  frame  and  with  a  cord  to 
hang  it  by.  This  was  the  text,  'God  will  never, 
never  forsake  thee." 

"And  was  he  pleased?" 

:<Yes,  he  said  it  was  balm" 

"Did  he  say  that?"  And  the  wonderful,  far- 
seeing  expression  that  Johnny  Blossom  could 


84  JOHNNY  BLOSSOM 

never  understand  came  over  Uncle  Isaac's 
face. 

"The  wood-cutter  is  right.  It  is  balm,"  said 
Uncle  Isaac  finally. 

Well!  Here  lay  Uncle  Isaac  with  the  green 
silk  eiderdown  puff,  with  the  servant  in  livery 
always  carrying  a  silver  tray;  and  there  lay 
Jeremias  the  wood-cutter  on  his  blue  homespun 
pillow,  with  the  wind  howling  at  his  very  bed- 
side —  and  both  of  them  said  that  there  was 
balm  in  those  words!  Johnny  Blossom  thought 
it  was  very  queer. 

"Some  presents  will  go  over  to  your  house 
this  evening,"  said  Uncle  Isaac  when  he  said 
good-by. 

My,  oh,  my!  Johnny  Blossom  hopped  over 
every  gutter  he  came  to  on  his  way  home. 
First  over  the  gutter  and  then  back  again  and 
over  again  just  because  everything  was  so  un- 
speakably joyful,  because  it  was  Christmas  Eve, 
because  Uncle  Isaac  was  going  to  send  some 
presents.  They  were  sure  to  be  wonderful 
presents,  those  Uncle  Isaac  sent! 

He  met  Tellef  s  littlest  sister  on  the  street. 

"See  here!"  he  said  to  her;  "here  is  a  Christ- 
mas present  for  Tellef;  but  just  as  surely  as 
you  meddle  the  least  bit  with  the  paper,  I'll  send 


JOHNNY'S  CHRISTMAS  PRESENTS         85 

a  snowball  right  through  your  head.  So  now 
you  know  what  to  expect." 

The  little  girl  went  straight  into  the  house 
holding  the  cornucopia  of  dates  stiffly  with  both 
hands,  while  Johnny  Blossom,  with  snowball 
ready,  stood  and  watched  her. 

No,  she  didn't  meddle  with  the  package  at 
all.  Everything  had  gone  well.  Johnny  Blos- 
som took  careful  aim  and  sent  the  snowball 
flying  toward  the  flagstaff  at  his  own  home. 

The  church  bells  began  to  ring,  ushering  in 
the  holy  tide.  Christmas  Eve!  Oh,  he  must 
hurry,  hurry  home! 

Bim!    Boom!    How  the  great  bells  chimed! 


CHAPTER,     VII 

A  Present  from.  Urvcle  Isaac    i 


unexpected  certainly  happened  to 
Johnny  Blossom  that  day.  He  had  just 

,  1  swung  round  on  the  road  leading  toward 
Kingthorpe,  with  no  thought  of  going  the  whole 
way,  for  Uncle  Isaac  was  ill  and  had  gone  to  a 
sanitarium,  and  there  wasn't  the  least  bit  of 
fun  to  be  had  just  in  Kingthorpe  itself  with  all 
its  elegance.  So  early  in  the  summer  as  this 
there  were  no  ripe  berries  in  the  garden ;  and  he 
must  not  go  into  the  stables,  for  Carlstrom  the 
coachman  was  a  regular  crosspatch. 

"Be  off  with  yourself,  boy!"  he  would  always 
say  if  Johnny  Blossom  but  put  his  nose  in  at  the 
stable  door. 

Carlstrom  was  a  Swede,  with  a  big  black  mous- 
tache whose  ends  stuck  straight  out  in  the  air. 
He  looked  exactly  like  a  stylish  colonel  to  say 
the  least  —  a  very  cross  colonel  though!  No, 
there  was  no  use  going  to  the  stable. 

86 


A  PRESENT  FROM  UNCLE  ISAAC         87 

The  cow-barn  was  under  the  rule  of  a  Swiss 
who  was  almost  as  cross  as  Carlstrom.  He 
always  said  that  the  cows  ought  to  be  sleeping; 
so  Johnny  Blossom  got  the  idea  that  the  cows 
at  Kingthorpe  never  did  anything  but  lie  and 
sleep. 

Inside  the  big  fine  house  there  couldn't  be 
any  fun  either.  Only  those  stately  halls  and 
magnificent  rooms,  one  after  another,  with  hand- 
some furniture  upholstered  in  silk  damask,  with 
great  gold-framed  mirrors,  but  with  the  shades 
always  drawn  down.  The  rooms  were  so  im- 
mense that  every  footstep  echoed  in  them. 
And  oh!  how  careful  one  had  to  be  for  the  sake 
of  that  miserable  china  that  Uncle  Isaac  had 
collected  so  much  of.  In  the  cabinets  it  was  no 
trouble,  but  when  it  stood  on  tiny  little  tables, 
Johnny  Blossom  did  not  like  it  at  all.  He 
scarcely  dared  to  breathe  when  he  went  any- 
where near  the  tables  lest  he  should  knock  some- 
thing off.  Uncle  Isaac  had  once  shown  him 
all  the  china  and  explained  how  old  and  rare 
and  precious  it  was. 

"This  cup  Marie  Antoinette  drank  from,  and 
this  vase  belonged  to  the  Bonapartes.  This 
flagon  is  from  an  English  royal  palace  of  the 
sixteenth  century." 


88  JOHNNY  BLOSSOM 

Johnny  Blossom  stood  and  stared.  For  his 
part  he  would  rather  have  his  own  mug  at  home 
with-" For  a  Good  Boy"  upon  it  than  all  these 
fine  antiques  that  so  many  old  mouths  had  drunk 
from! 

Poor  Uncle  Isaac !  He  was  sick  now  again  — 
worse,  in  fact.  He  had  heart  disease,  Mother 
said.  Jeremias  the  wood-cutter  also  talked  of 
a  pain  in  his  heart,  but  since  he  had  begun  to 
rub  himself  all  over  with  kerosene,  he  had 
become  much  better.  It  smelled  dreadfully  in 
Jeremias's  little  hut,  but  he  was  better.  Johnny 
Blossom  would  certainly  write  to  Uncle  Isaac 
and  tell  him  that  all  he  had  to  do  to  cure  himself 
of  the  pain  was  to  rub  himself  with  kerosene. 

To  this  point  in  his  meditations  had  Johnny 
Blossom  come  just  as  he  reached  the  telephone 
pole  whence  he  could  see  the  big  entrance  gates 
to  Kingthorpe  Park;  and  there  was  the  hand- 
some new  carriage  rolling  out  through  the  gates 
that  very  moment!  Carlstrom  sat  on  the  box. 
My!  How  stylish  he  looked  today!  His 
moustache  ends  stood  out  in  the  air  more  stiffly 
than  usual,  and  he  never  once  glanced  at  Johnny 
Blossom  standing  below  in  the  dusty  road.  Back 
in  the  carriage  sat  Miss  Melling,  Uncle  Isaac's 
housekeeper,  with  a  white  feather  in  her  hat 


A  PRESENT  FROM  UNCLE  ISAAC         89 

waving  up  and  down.  At  her  side  lay  a  queer 
package  of  many  yellow  sticks  tied  together. 
What  in  the  world  could  that  be  ? 

Johnny  Blossom  took  off  his  hat  and  bowed. 
Carlstom  looked  straight  ahead ;  but  when  Miss 
Melling  caught  sight  of  Johnny,  there  was  a 
great  to-do. 

"Why,  there  he  is!  Stop,  Carlstrom,  stop! 
Johnny  Blossom!  Johnny  Blossom!"  she  called, 
twisting  herself  round  in  the  carriage.  "You 
are  just  the  person  I  was  going  to  town  to  see," 
she  continued.  "  I  had  a  letter  from  your  Uncle 
Isaac  saying  that  you  were  to  have  this  fishing 
rod  at  once." 

Johnny  Blossom  looked  very  small  standing  in 
the  road  beside  the  big  carriage.  The  crown  and 
brim  of  his  hat  gaped  widely  apart  on  one  side, 
and  out  of  the  opening  stuck  a  lock  of  dark  brown 
hair.  His  blue  and  white  striped  blouse  had  a 
daub  of  pitch  in  the  middle  of  the  front;  and 
since  Johnny  Blossom  knew  it  was  there,  he  held 
a  little  brown  hand  over  it,  while  he  gazed  up  at 
the  double  chin  of  the  imposing  Miss  Melling. 

"See  here!  Why  shouldn't  you  take  it  right 
now  ?  To  tell  the  truth,  I  can't  imagine  what  a 
little  boy  like  you  should  be  doing  with  such  a 
handsome  fishing  rod  as  this.  I  won't  say  how 


90  JOHNNY  BLOSSOM 

much  it  cost  —  it  was  very  expensive,  you  may 
be  sure.  Well,  perhaps  you  had  better  ride  with 
us  back  to  town  again,  although  you  are  so  dirty, 
you  are  scarcely  fit  for  the  carriage." 

Johnny  Blossom  looked  up  wistfully  but 
dubiously.  Probably  he  was  too  dirty. 

"Oh,  well!  you  may  get  in,"  said  Miss  Mel- 
ling,  not  ungraciously. 

Seldom,  indeed,  did  he  have  the  honor  of 
riding  in  the  Kingthorpe  carriage,  because 
Carlstrom  and  Miss  Melling  were  both  so  fussy, 
and  poor  Uncle  Isaac  never  went  to  drive.  As 
they  rode  along  Miss  Melling  showed  Johnny 
how  to  put  the  rod  together.  My,  oh,  my !  How 
amazingly  long  it  was!  Johnny  stood  it  up  like 
a  flagstaff  and  his  face  was  radiant. 

"Has  Uncle  Isaac  trouble  with  his  heart?" 
asked  Johnny,  thinking  he  would  tell  about  the 
kerosene  cure. 

"Rich  people  have  trouble  everywhere,"  said 
Miss  Melling  curtly.  "  Sit  still  or  you'll  fall  out 
of  the  carriage." 

Johnny  Blossom  sat  as  still  as  a  stone  for 
about  two  minutes;  but  then  they  drove  past 
a  great  linden  tree  and  he  absolutely  had  to 
stand  up  to  see  how  near  the  top  of  the  tree  he 
could  reach  with  his  fishpole. 


A     PRESENT    FROM     UNCLE     ISAAC 


A  PRESENT  FROM  UNCLE  ISAAC         91 

"Dear,  dear!"  said  Miss  Melling.  "I  think 
you  had  better  get  out  before  we  have  an 
accident." 

The  carriage  was  stopped  and  Johnny  Blos- 
som with  his  long  fishing  rod  was  helped  out 
unceremoniously. 

"Thank  you  for  the  drive  and  for  the  rod," 
said  he,  bowing. 

Then  Johnny  Blossom  sprang  into  a  run  and 
dashed  homeward.  My,  oh,  my!  How  as- 
tonished the  family  would  be  over  such  a  magnifi- 
cent fishing  rod! 

The  moment  he  arrived,  the  whole  household 
was  called  on  to  admire  it  —  Father,  Mother, 
three  sisters,  and  the  maids  —  but  no  one  must 
touch  it  or  even  go  very  near  it  but  himself. 
Dagny  put  one  little  wet  finger  out  toward  it,  but 
at  this  Johnny  Blossom  became  red  with  fury. 

"Are  you  crazy?  You'll  ruin  it  completely!" 
he  shouted.  The  little  wet  finger  was  drawn 
hastily  back. 

Where  the  precious  rod  should  be  put  was  a 
momentous  question.  Unfortunately  it  was, too 
long  to  be  accommodated  in  his  own  room, 
where  he  could  guard  it  best. 

Johnny  Blossom's  room  was  a  very  tiny  one, 
under  the  slope  of  the  roof,  but  small  as  it  was, 


92  JOHNNY  BLOSSOM 

he  could  never  keep  it  in  order.  The  rug  before 
the  bed  was  always  in  a  heap;  and  papers, 
skates,  bows  and  arrows,  and  boots  and  shoes 
were  strewn  over  the  floor.  There  was  a  little 
space  on  the  table  and  the  commode,  but  on  the 
floor  you  could  scarcely  find  a  bare  spot. 

"How  this  room  does  look!"  Mother  was 
continually  saying. 

"Well,  that  is  because  I  study  here,"  said 
Johnny  Blossom. 

Strangely  enough,  Mother  could  not  under- 
stand what  studying  had  to  do  with  everything 
being  scattered  over  the  floor;  but  at  any  rate, 
to  make  space  for  the  fishing  rod  in  the  little 
room  was  plainly  impossible.  Of  course  he  could 
not  think  of  taking  the  rod  apart.  Well,  it 
would  have  to  be  left  on  the  veranda  tonight. 
What  if  some  one  should  take  it?  Haunted  by 
this  dreadful  thought,  Johnny  Blossom  was 
very  wakeful.  He  tossed  and  turned  for  a  long 
time  before  he  finally  fell  asleep. 

The  next  morning  Johnny  awoke  early  and 
was  wide  awake  at  once.  That  fishing  rod  from 
Uncle  Isaac  —  out  on  the  veranda  —  suppose 
some  one  had  taken  it!  He  put  on  his  clothes 
in  the  greatest  haste.  Later  he  would  wash 
himself  and  dress  properly,  but  the  only  thing 


A  PRESENT  FROM   UNCLE  ISAAC         93 

now  was  to  see  whether  the  fishing  rod  was  safe. 
Yes,  wonderfully  enough,  there  it  was.  No  one 
had  touched  it,  so  far  as  he  could  see. 

How  still,  how  still  the  world  was !  How  fresh 
and  cool !  The  sun  was  shining  now  on  the  big 
pine  trees  back  of  the  house  and  their  trunks 
were  deep  red  in  the  strong  light.  What  a 
fragrance  came  from  the  garden  —  the  rich 
scent  of  roses,  particularly  —  and  how  very 
damp  the  garden  path  was !  My,  oh,  my !  The 
dew  was  certainly  like  pearls,  scattered  over  the 
grass  —  shining  white  pearls.  Johnny  Blossom 
looked  at  the  clock  on  the  church  tower.  Two 
minutes  before  five.  Pshaw!  so  early!  Oh,  well! 
Never  mind.  It  was  all  right.  He  could  do  what 
he  liked  until  the  rest  of  the  family  got  up. 

First,  he  would  try  fishing  far  out  over  the 
flower  beds  with  his  rod.  There !  he  had  caught 
and  broken  off  a  big,  dark  red  rose.  The  well 
was  naturally  a  better  place  to  fish.  Johnny 
Blossom  fished  up  the  most  incredible  things 
from  that  well.  He  first  threw  them  in,  of  course, 
and  then  it  was  a  tremendous  piece  of  work  to 
get  them  out  again  —  leaves,  flowers,  his  own 
straw  hat  —  yes,  it  was  certainly  an  extra  fine 
fishing  rod.  He  would  write  at  once  to  Uncle 
Isaac  and  thank  him  for  it. 


94  JOHNNY  BLOSSOM 

How  pleasant  that  no  one  was  up  yet,  and 
that  he  could  settle  himself  cosily  at  Mother's 
writing  desk!  Uncle  Isaac  had  been  his  god- 
father at  baptism,  so  Johnny  Blossom  wrote: 

"Dear  Godfather:  A  thousand  thanks  for  the 
fishing  rod.  I  am  so  happy.  It  catches  every- 
thing splendidly.  This  afternoon  I  am  going 
to  fish  in  the  bay.  If  you  have  a  pain  in  your 
heart,  just  rub  yourself  with  kerosene,  Jeremias 
the  wood-cutter  says.  He  smells  like  a  lamp, 
but  he  is  well  now  and  walks  out  with  a  stick. 
It's  nothing  if  you  do  smell  if  you  can  only  be 
well." 

Johnny  Blossom  could  think  of  nothing  more 
to  write  about,  though  he  stared  long  and  hard 
at  the  walls.  His  examination  report?  No,  he 
would  not  write  about  that,  for  there  were  some 
9*s  for  conduct  and  some  marks  for  lessons  that 
were  not  as  high  as  one  might  wish.  No,  there 
was  not  an  atom  more  to  write.  So  the  letter 
was  signed: 

"Your  affectionate  JOHNNY  BLOSSOM." 

After  his  writing,  he  went  to  the  wharf  and 
fished  for  a  while.  As  it  happened  he  caught 
nothing,  but  it  was  fun  enough  just  to  put  out 
the  rod  and  draw  it  in  again. 

Suddenly  the  maid  Lisa  appeared. 


A  PRESENT  FROM  UNCLE  ISAAC         95 

"You  are  to  hurry  right  home,  John." 

Father  and  Mother  sat  in  the  study,  Mother 
with  her  handkerchief  in  her  hand  and  with  red 
eyes. 

"We  have  something  to  tell  you,  my  boy," 
said  Father.  "Uncle  Isaac  has  been  very  sick." 

"Yes,  but  I  have  just  written  to  him  that  if 
he  will  rub  himself  with  kerosene  he  will  get 
well." 

"Uncle  Isaac  has  no  further  need  of  anything," 
said  Mother.  "He  died  last  night,  little  John." 

Mother  began  to  cry  again,  and  there  came 
a  lump  in  Johnny  Blossom's  throat.  No,  he 
would  not  cry.  Big  boys  ought  never  to  cry. 

"  If  any  one  goes  straight  into  the  Kingdom 
of  God,  Uncle  Isaac  will,"  said  Mother. 

It  was  of  no  use;  he  must  cry.  With  his  head 
in  his  mother's  lap  he  cried  hard.  Mother 
stroked  his  head  gently.  "Uncle  Isaac  wished 
it  so  much  himself,  my  boy.  He  was  eager  to 
go  to  God,"  she  whispered. 

"Yes,  but  it  is  so  sad." 

That  afternoon  Johnny  Blossom  sat  crouched 
on  the  stone  steps  leading  to  the  road.  The 
fishing  rod  lay  beside  him,  but  he  did  not  feel 
like  going  fishing.  He  sat  with  his  elbows  on 
his  knees  and  his  head  in  his  hands,  thinking  of 


96  JOHNNY  BLOSSOM 

Uncle  Isaac.  It  might  easily  be  that  just  now, 
this  minute,  Uncle  Isaac  stood  outside  that 
great  golden  gate — the  gate  that  leads  into  Para- 
dise— and  knocked  on  it.  To  think  that  God  can 
hear  a  man's  little  knock.  Why,  that  gate  is 
surely  as  big  as  —  yes,  as  the  tallest  pine  tree 
over  there,  and  all  of  gleaming  gold ;  and  God 
looks  and  throws  the  gate  wide  open  of  course, 
for  he  sees  it  is  Uncle  Isaac.  And  so  Uncle 
Isaac  goes  into  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven. 

If  there  had  only  been  a  chance  to  thank  him 
for  the  fishing  rod!  Johnny  Blossom  had  some 
thought  of  asking  God  to  thank  Uncle  Isaac  for 
him,  but  he  put  it  hastily  aside.  No,  he  was 
sure  that  would  not  do. 

Kingthorpe.  Oh !  he  should  like  less  than  ever 
to  go  there  now.  Never,  never  in  the  world 
would  he  enter  that  grand  place  again!  Miss 
Melling  and  Carlstrom  might  have  it  all  to 
themselves,  for  anything  he  cared. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

ncle  Isaac 


OHNNY  BLOSSOM  was  the  only 
child  present  among  all  the  people 
who  had  assembled  to  hear  the  read- 
ing of  Uncle  Isaac's  will.  He  had 
wished  that  he  might  go  home  instead  of  roam- 
ing aimlessly,  as  he  had  been  doing  for  a  long 
time,  about  the  grounds  which  seemed  today 
more  solemnly  quiet  than  ever. 

Perhaps  he  might  find  Lars  Berget,  who 
worked  in  the  stable  under  Carlstrom,  but  who 
was  always  pleasant  and  had  a  great  deal  to 
tell  about  the  different  horses.  Why,  there 
was  Lars  now.  Johnny  scarcely  recognized  him 
in  his  new  black  clothes. 

"They  are  asking  for  you,  John,"  said  Lars. 
"The  will  is  going  to  be  read  now,  and  we  must 
all  be  in  the  library  together,  they  say,  to  hear 
—  right  and  proper  —  who  shall  be  master  of 
Kingthorpe  after  this." 

"Can't  you  and  I  go  to  the  stable  instead?" 
ventured  Johnny.  "  It  will  be  so  tiresome  in  the 
house." 

97 


98  JOHNNY  BLOSSOM 

No.  Lars  was  firm.  Johnny  must  go  to  the 
library. 

Assembled  there  were  the  family  and  those 
who  were  connected  with  the  estate  in  any  way 
—  the  people  from  the  Works  and  the  wharf, 
the  servants  of  the  house  and  from  about  the 
place.  The  great  room  was  packed  so  full  that 
it  was  barely  possible  for  Johnny  and  Lars  to 
get  inside  the  door. 

John's  uncle,  the  Admiral,  stood  at  the  end 
of  the  table  reading  from  big  sheets  of  paper. 
He  read  something  about  money,  but  Johnny 
Blossom  could  not  understand  a  bit  of  what  was 
meant,  and  found  himself  very  uncomfortable 
standing  squeezed  in  among  all  these  grown-up 
people. 

Suddenly  he  heard  his  own  name.  "John 
Christopher  Winkel  Blossom,"  read  the  Ad- 
miral. That  was  Johnny's  own  name  exactly. 
Uncle  Isaac  had  often  said  that  there  was 
no  one  among  all  the  relatives  who  had  the 
whole  of  the  old  name  now  except  Johnny 
Blossom. 

"It  is  therefore  my  last  wish  that  my  grand- 
nephew,  John  Christopher  Winkel  Blossom, 
inherit  after  me  my  estate  of  Kingthorpe,  whole 
and  undivided,  including  the  mansion  and  park, 


UNCLE  ISAACS  WILL  99 

the  Works,  the  Bay  Point  wharves,  the  Holmen 
sawmill"  — 

The  Admiral  read  on  and  on. 

Lars  poked  Johnny  in  the  side.  "Just  listen 
to  that,  boy!" 

From  the  farther  end  of  the  hall  came 
the  query:  "Is  he  here?  Is  Johnny  Blossom 
here?" 

"Yes,  here  he  is,"  piped  a  shrill,  boyish  voice 
from  the  doorway. 

"You  are  to  come  forward,"  said  the  Admiral. 
It  was  so  still  that  the  rustle  of  papers  in  the 
Admiral's  shaking  hand  could  be  heard  through- 
out the  immense  room.  Johnny  Blossom 
squeezed  himself  through  the  throng. 

Every  one  looked  at  him  as  he  stood  beside 
the  Admiral  —  such  a  little  boy,  with  comical, 
freckled  nose  and  smooth,  brown  hair.  He 
looked  up  at  his  big,  stalwart  uncle  who  was 
reading  about  him,  Johnny  Blossom! 

"  I  believe  that  this  boy  has  the  qualities  that 
will  enable  him  to  meet  rightly  the  serious 
responsibilities  imposed  by  a  large  property  and 
great  wealth.  His  character  is  sound  through 
and  through,  and  he  seems  to  have  been  en- 
dowed in  his  cradle  with  a  fine  understanding 
of  the  needs  and  sufferings  of  his  fellowmen. 


ioo  JOHNNY  BLOSSOM 

If  this  grows,  he  will  understand,  when  he  him- 
self has  become  a  man,  why  Uncle  Isaac  of 
Kingthorpe  chose  him  of  all  others  to  carry 
forward  the  family  traditions  in  this  prominent 
station  of  life.  God  be  with  you,  Johnny 
Blossom!" 

The  stillness  of  the  crowded  room  had  grown 
more  impressive.  "Do  you  understand?"  asked 
the  Admiral. 

"No,"  answered  Johnny  frankly,  looking  up 
at  his  uncle  and  shaking  his  head  energetically. 

"Uncle  Isaac  has  made  you  his  chief  heir. 
You  are  the  owner  of  Kingthorpe,  my  boy." 

Johnny  Blossom  took  instant  alarm.  Should 
he  be  obliged  to  live  at  Kingthorpe  in  these  big, 
solemn  rooms? 

"No,"  said  he  hastily  —  and  his  clear  young 
voice,  though  emphatic,  had  a  note  of  childish 
fear  —  "no,  I  don't  want  to,  Uncle;  I  don't 
want  to  stay  here  now  that  Uncle  Isaac  is 
dead"  — 

"How  old  are  you?"  broke  in  the  Admiral. 

"Eleven  years  old  in  four  months  and" — he 
began  to  reckon  exactly  how  many  days  over 
there  were  before  he  should  be  eleven  years  old, 
but  he  did  not  have  time  because  the  Admiral 
lifted  him  suddenly  and  stood  him  on  the  table. 


UNCLE  ISAACS  WILL  101 

Right  up  on  the  top  of  the  handsome  library 
table! 

"Here  he  is,  friends,"  said  the  Admiral,  "for 
any  of  you  to  see  who  have  not  known  him  before, 
though  I  think  you  all  do  know  him  well." 

A  subdued  murmur  of  assent  ran  through 
the  room.  Yes,  indeed.  Of  course  they  all  knew 
Johnny  Blossom. 

"And  we  must  hope,"  continued  the  Admiral, 
"that  this  boy  will  fulfil  all  the  expectations 
that  are  centered  in  him" — 

Johnny  Blossom  thought  that  the  room  had 
become  stiller  than  ever.  A  strange,  wonderful 
feeling  swept  over  him.  There  was  something 
serious,  something  that  he  alone  was  to  be 
responsible  for,  something  expected  of  him  that 
no  one,  no  other  person,  could  help  him  with. 

"And  with  honor  to  his  family  fill  that  re- 
sponsible position  in  life  which  great  wealth 
will  oblige  him  to  occupy." 

"We  hope,  too,"  went  on  the  Admiral,  "that 
he  may  have  inherited  also  that  noble  spirit 
which  was  so  marked  a  characteristic  of  our  dear 
Uncle  Isaac." 

There  was  again  a  moment  of  utter  silence, 
through  which  broke  suddenly  Johnny  Blossom's 
clear  little  voice: 


102  JOHNNY  BLOSSOM 

"I  can  never  be  as  kind  as  Uncle  Isaac!" 

A  smile  went  round,  but  Mother  was  crying 
and  Father,  with  arms  folded,  was  looking  up 
earnestly  at  Johnny.  From  amidst  the  group 
of  workmen,  old  Rolfsen,  foreman  at  the  wharf, 
elbowed  his  way  to  the  table. 

"Well,"  said  he,  pausing  after  each  word  of 
his  speech,  as  was  his  custom,  "well,  the  old 
gentleman  was  a  good  man,  as  we  all  know  —  we 
who  worked  for  him.  He  was  always  good  to 
us,  never  .anything  but  good.  But  now  there 
is  only  this  to  say:  we  wish  to  bid  this  boy  wel- 
come. We  know  him,  and  it  will  surprise  me  if 
he  does  not  prove  the  same  sort  as  the  old  gentle- 
man. And  that  is  the  reason  we  welcome  you, 
Johnny  Blossom." 

Old  Rolfsen  reached  out  a  gnarled,  rough 
hand  to  Johnny  and  all  the  rest  of  the  workmen 
came,  one  by  one,  and  shook  hands  with  him. 
It  was  queer,  but  it  was  pleasant,  too,  for  he 
knew  them  all  and  he  smiled  at  them  as  they 
greeted  him.  Lars  Berget  gripped  his  hand  so 
hard  that  it  really  hurt.  And  just  think!  Even 
Carlstrom  came  and  made  a  beautiful  bow 
(My!  how  stiff  his  moustache  ends  were  today!), 
and  to  crown  all,  Miss  Melling  pressed  forward 
and  actually  courtesied !  At  this  Johnny  Blossom 


UNCLE  ISAACS  WILL  103 

was  so  astounded  that  he  had  to  look  over  at 
his  mother. 

Later,  when  the  working  people  had  gone, 
there  was  a  tremendous  amount  of  solemn  talk 
between  Father  and  the  Admiral  and  the  other 
uncles.  Johnny  Blossom  did  not  understand  a 
bit  of  it,  but  stood  beside  his  mother,  who  was 
still  crying  a  little,  though  Johnny  could  not 
see  that  what  they  talked  of  now  was  anything 
to  cry  over. 

When  his  parents  were  finally  ready  to  go, 
Johnny  Blossom  thought  they  would  walk  home 
as  usual,  but,  true  as  you  live,  Carlstrom  was 
waiting  with  the  handsome  black  horses  and 
the  landau  with  the  damask  cushions  —  a  much 
grander  equipage  than  the  one  which  had 
brought  them  to  Kingthorpe.  They  had  had  the 
brown  horses  then. 

All  the  uncles  shook  hands  with  Johnny 
very  ceremoniously.  People  were  still  standing 
around  the  steps  at  the  entrance  to  the  mansion 
and  in  the  park  along  the  avenue  where  the 
carriage  would  go,  and  Johnny  Blossom  could 
hear  them  saying,  "Here  he  comes!  —  the  heir 
of  Kingthorpe!" 

Again  little  Johnny  Blossom  had  a  feeling 
that  something  was  expected  of  him.  So  he 


io4  JOHNNY  BLOSSOM 

stood  up,  put  his  heels  together,  bowed  as  well 
as  he  could  in  the  moving  carriage,  and  said: 
"Good-by!  I  thank  you  all.  Good-by!" 

At  the  far  edge  of  a  group  stood  Lars  Berget, 
who  swung  his  hat  in  the  air  and  ventured  a 
faint,  "Hurrah!"  No  one  joined  in  it,  however, 
for  they  bethought  them  of  Uncle  Isaac. 

Johnny  Blossom  .sat  down  again  with  wonder 
in  his  eyes.  It  was  all  so  amazingly  queer. 
Suddenly  his  mother  said,  "You  must  not 
think,  little  John,  that  your  father  and  I  are 
altogether  glad  about  this." 

No,  it  had  not  occurred  to  Johnny  Blossom 
that  it  was  anything  to  be  particularly  glad 
about. 

"May  God  help  us  to  guide  you  aright!" 
added  Mother. 

Every  one  they  met  as  they  rode  along  turned 
around  and  stared  at  Johnny.  It  was  very  em- 
barrassing, really,  to  be  the  heir  of  Kingthorpe. 

When  the  carriage  stopped  at  the  garden  gate 
at  home,  Carlstrom  asked  whether  the  young 
gentleman  would  not  like  to  ride  on  the  new 
saddle  horse.  He  could  guarantee  that  it  was 
safe.  Now  indeed  was  Johnny  Blossom  alto- 
gether dumbfounded.  What  had  got  into  Carl- 
strom today?  He  was  usually  so  cross. 


UNCLE  ISAACS  WILL  105 

"We  will  consider  that  later,"  said  Father. 

Why  was  it  necessary  to  consider  such  an 
absolutely  certain  thing?  Of  course  he  wished 
to  ride.  It  could  easily  happen  that  Carlstrom 
would  be  as  cross  as  usual  after  today  and  never 
offer  the  horse  again.  He  knew  Carlstrom! 
But  Father  had  a  very  sober  face,  and  when  he 
looked  like  that  there  was  no  use  saying  anything. 
So  Johnny  Blossom  darted  into  the  house  and 
raced  around  to  find  Asta  and  the  maids,  to 
tell  them  the  remarkable  happenings  of  the 
afternoon. 

There  they  were,  all  of  them,  down  in  the 
syringa  arbor  —  Olea  the  cook,  Lisa  the  nurse- 
maid, Asta,  Andrea,  and  Dagny. 

"Now  you  shall  hear!"  shouted  Johnny, 
dashing  into  the  arbor.  "Just  think!  I  was  put 
up  on  the  library  table,  and  all  the  people  came 
and  shook  hands  with  me;  old  Rolfsen  began  it, 
and  he  made  a  kind  of  speech  for  me ;  and  Lars 
Berget  wanted  to  shout  *  Hurrah!'  when  we 
drove  out.  And  if  all  this  isn't  true,  you  may 
chop  my  head  off."  Johnny  Blossom's  eyes 
shone.  He  was  tremendously  in  earnest. 

Olea  the  cook  knitted  slowly  and  thoughtfully. 

"It  would  be  just  like  you  to  stand  on  the 
table,"  she  said  dryly.  "And  if  the  people  had 


106  JOHNNY  BLOSSOM 

any  bringing  up,  of  course  they  shook  hands 
with  you  as  with  everybody  else." 

"No.  Nobody  stood  on  the  table  but  me," 
said  Johnny  Blossom.  "And  they  didn't  shake 
hands  with  any  one  else  either;  and  that  is  as 
true  —  as  true" — 

"Humph!  It's  very  likely  that  they  paid 
their  respects  to  such  a  great  man  as  you!" 
said  Olea. 

"My  uncle  the  Admiral  made  a  speech  about 
me,  too,"  continued  Johnny  Blossom. 

"The  boy  is  crazy,"  said  Olea,  knitting  on  in 
unbroken  calm. 

"What  did  Uncle  say?"  asked  Asta. 

"He  said  —  he  said  —  that  I  must  fill  the 
station  with  honor;  I  didn't  understand  exactly 
what  that  meant,  but  he  said  it  because  I  am  to 
have  Kingthorpe.  But  I  will  not  live  there; 
they  may  all  be  sure  of  that." 

"He  is  crazy  as  a  loon!"  said  Olea.  But  Lisa 
the  nursemaid  was  more  interested. 

"You  are  to  have  Kingthorpe,  did  you  say?" 

"Yes,  my  uncle  the  Admiral  said  so;  he 
read  it  from  a  great  big  paper  —  he  read  out 
my  whole  name.  JOHN  CHRISTOPHER  WINKEL 
BLOSSOM,  he  read;  and  that  is  as  true  —  as 
true"  — 


UNCLE  ISAACS  WILL  107 

"  For  the  land's  sake ! "  said  Lisa,  laying  John's 
trousers,  which  she  was  patching,  down  in  her 
lap. 

"Well,  if  that  isn't  the  greatest  I  ever  heard 
in  all  my  days,"  said  Olea.  "However,  I  don't 
believe  it.  It  is  just  some  of  your  tomfoolery, 
John,  you  rascal." 

"Here  comes  Mother  and  you  shall  hear  for 
yourself,"  shouted  John.  "Didn't  I  stand  on 
the  table,  Mother?  And  shan't  I  have  King- 
thorpe,  Mother?"  Mother  assented  soberly. 

"Yes,  my  boy." 

John  looked  triumphantly  at  Lisa  and  Olea. 

"Now  you  see  what  silly  nincompoops  you 
are  —  never  believing  a  single  thing  I  tell  you." 

"John  dear,"  said  Mother,  "you  are  not  to 
use  such  expressions." 

Well,  Lisa  and  Olea  were  really  very  contrary 
both  of  them.  What  would  they  say  if  they  knew 
how  every  one  had  been  calling  him  the  heir  of 
Kingthorpe?  On  the  whole  it  was  rather  pleas- 
ant to  be  called  that,  although  somewhat  em- 
barrassing. He  would  not  speak  of  it  to  Olea 
and  Lisa  after  all  —  not  yet,  anyway.  They 
were  both  staring  at  him  in  open-mouthed 
wonder. 


CHAPTER    IX 

One  D  ax 
ir\  Vacation, 


H,  how  pleasant  it  was  to  lie  in  bed  like 
this  in  the  morning  now  that  it  was 
vacation !  Not  to  have  Lisa  the  nurse- 
maid popping  her  head  in  at  the  door  and 
saying,  "John,  it  is  time  to  get  up.  You 
must  hurry,  too."  That  was  what  she  always 
said. 

Just  to  lie  here  and  think! 

How  people  did  pry  and  talk  about  all  that 
Kingthorpe  heir  business!  They  seemed  to 
think  it  something  remarkable.  The  minute 
he  showed  himself  in  the  street,  people  called 
to  him  and  asked  him  if  he  wasn't  awfully 
glad. 

What  a  crazy  idea!  Glad,  when  it  had  all 
come  about  only  because  Uncle  Isaac  was  dead 
—  dear,  good,  kind  Uncle  Isaac!  Every  time 
Johnny  Blossom  thought  of  him  a  lump  came 
in  his  throat.  Then  he  would  whistle  to  try  to 
get  the  lump  away,  but  whistling  did  not  help 

108 


ONE  DAY  IN  VACATION  109 

greatly,  for  he  was  very  sorry  and  missed  Uncle 
Isaac  so  much.  No,  glad  about  it  he  could  never 
be,  never  in  the  world. 

Oh,  pshaw!  It  was  raining.  Johnny  Blossom 
turned  a  scowling  face  toward  the  window. 
Just  what  one  might  expect  —  to  have  it  rain 
the  very  first  day  of  vacation!  It  always  did, 
always.  Funny  kind  of  rain,  anyhow  —  coming 
down  in  a  regular  slant.  Perfectly  horrid.  He 
had  planned  to  do  so  much  today  —  be  "boat- 
man, "  for  instance. 

If  it  would  only  rain  enough  so  that  the  whole 
world  would  be  covered  with  water,  there  might 
be  some  fun  in  it.  If  people  had  to  go  in  boats, 
and  nobody  could  walk  anywhere,  but  every 
one  had  to  swim,  that  would  be  jolly! 

Well,  he  would  not  get  up  yet  anyway,  since 
it  was  raining  so  hard.  He  would  lie  there  and 
sing  all  the  school  songs.  So  he  began  singing 
at  the  top  of  his  voice,  "Yes,  we  love  our 
grand  old  Norway"  That  went  splendidly. 
Then  he  started  another,  but  that  tune  ran  up 
rather  too  high  for  his  voice. 

Mother  appeared  in  the  doorway. 

"Come,  John,  don't  lie  there  and  screech  in 
that  fashion." 

"Don't  you  like  my  singing,  Mother?" 


i  io  JOHNNY  BLOSSOM 

"Not  that,  it  was  horrible;  and  people  can 
hear  you  away  down  the  road." 

It  seemed  rather  pleasant  to  John,  that  his 
singing  should  be  heard  so  far. 

"Get  up  now,"  said  Mother. 

Happening  to  see  his  new  paint-box  with  its 
enticing  cakes  of  paint  of  all  colors,  Johnny 
Blossom  in  his  night  gown  and  bare  feet  was 
soon  wholly  absorbed  in  mixing  paint. 

There  was  Mother  at  the  door  again. 

"Why,  John!  Are  you  standing  there  in  your 
night  gown  painting?" 

"Just  see  this  beautiful  color  I  have  made, 
Mother,"  exclaimed  John,  exhibiting  a  muddy 
yellow  mixture  as  the  result  of  his  efforts. 
Mother  did  not  seem  much  impressed  with  the 
new  yellow  color. 

"Wash  yourself  thoroughly,"  she  said.  Oh, 
yes !  That  was  what  Mother  always  said.  John 
showed  her  two  red  ears  he  had  scrubbed,  but 
she  wasn't  satisfied.  Oh,  dear!  How  many 
bothersome  crinkles  and  crannies  there  were 
in  an  ear,  anyway! 

After  breakfast  Johnny  Blossom  determined 
that  he  must  walk  twenty-four  times  back  and 
forth  on  the  veranda  railing,  the  railing  repre- 
senting a  rope  stretched  over  Niagara  Falls. 


ONE  DAY  IN  VACATION  in 

Johnny  walked  with  greatest  care,  his  arms 
outstretched  and  his  tongue  in  his  cheek,  to 
help  him  keep  his  balance. 

"Oh,  John!  My  boy!"  called  Mother  from 
the  dining-room  window. 

"  I'm  —  crossing  —  Niagara  Falls  —  on  —  a 
—  tight-rope,"  said  Johnny. 

He  scarcely  dared  to  speak,  so  very  risky  was 
the  walking ;  but  when  he  could  take  hold  of  one 
of  the  veranda  posts,  he  called : 

"Now  I  have  got  across  Niagara  Falls,  and 
all  the  people  are  shouting  'Hurrah!" 

"Indeed,"  said  Mother. 

But  my,  oh,  my!  There  was  the  sun.  Johnny 
Blossom  shouted  "Asta"  everywhere  through 
the  house,  for  now  there  was  a  chance  for  them 
to  realize  a  certain  plan  that  he  had  made. 
Since  he  could  not  carry  it  out  alone,  he  would 
make  use  of  Asta,  even  if  she  were  only  a  girl, 
poor  thing! 

At  last  he  found  her,  in  a  big  rocking  chair, 
reading  some  stupid  girls'  book.  They  rushed 
over  to  Jensen's  Wharf,  for  that  was  where 
Jeremias  the  wood-cutter  kept  his  boat,  and 
they  had  a  standing  permission  to  use  it  when- 
ever they  wished. 

The  steamer  would  arrive  very  soon  —  the 


H2  JOHNNY  BLOSSOM 

one  that  did  not  come  in  to  the  wharf  and  whose 
passengers,  therefore,  had  to  be  rowed  ashore  if 
they  wished  to  land  here.  Johnny  and  Asta 
thought  it  would  be  great  fun  to  row  out  and 
call  up  to  the  ship  that  if  any  one  wished  to  go 
ashore,  here  were  the  boatmen  for  them,  boat- 
men who  were  good  for  something,  too. 

There  lay  the  steamer  already.  They  rowed 
their  best,  but  saw  that  a  big  boat  carrying 
passengers  ashore  had  already  started.  Pshaw! 
Too  bad  they  had  come  so  late!  However, 
Johnny  Blossom  rowed  swiftly  and  carefully 
alongside  the  steamer. 

"Is  there  any  one  who  wishes  to  land?"  he 
shouted  up  toward  the  deck,  in  as  manly  a  tone 
as  he  could  assume. 

Yes,  there  was  an  elderly  gentleman  with 
glasses  who  had  not  gone  with  the  other  boat. 

"Can  you  row?"  asked  the  gentleman  with 
the  glasses. 

"You  may  be  sure  we  can,"  answered  Johnny 
Blossom,  with  a  very  superior  air. 

So  the  gentleman  got  into  Jeremias's  boat 
and  Johnny  and  Asta  turned  it  toward  the  wharf. 
Asta  was  always  inclined  to  put  her  oars  too 
deep  in  the  water,  and  when  she  tried  to  take 
them  out,  she  had  to  get  up  off  her  seat  almost 


ONE  DAY  IN  VACATION  113 

every  time.  Johnny  threw  condemnatory 
glances  at  her.  She  was  likely  to  ruin  everything, 
doing  no  better  than  that,  after  he  had  assured 
the  gentleman  that  they  could  row. 

The  boat  scraped  against  the  wharf. 

"How  much  for  my  passage?"  asked  the 
gentleman. 

"Do  you  think  five  cents  is  too  dear?"  asked 
Johnny  in  a  businesslike  manner. 

No,  the  stranger  thought  not. 

"I  declare  if  there  isn't  the  Kingthorpe  heir 
himself,  hiring  out  as  boatman!"  came  a  voice 
from  the  wharf. 

Pshaw!  Ola  Ramm  was  hanging  over  the 
railing  watching  them. 

"Kingthorpe  heir?"  asked  the  gentleman. 
"What  does  he  mean  by  that?" 

"It  is  what  they  call  me,"  replied  Johnny, 
rather  soberly. 

Asta  led  the  way  at  once  to  the  candy 
shop. 

"Perhaps  we  ought  not  to  have  taken  any 
money,"  said  Johnny. 

"I  should  like  to  know!"  exclaimed  Asta. 
"As  heavy  as  he  was  to  row!" 

The  raspberry  drops  were  very  good.  Why 
not  be  boatmen  all  summer  long? 


114  JOHNNY  BLOSSOM 

A  few  moments  later  Johnny  remarked, 
"The  goat  ought  really  to  go  to  Grassy  Island 
today." 

"  Really,  it  ought,"  agreed  Asta. 

"We'll  bring  it  right  down  to  the  boat  now," 
said  John.  And  the  goat  that  had  lived  all 
summer  in  the  yard  back  of  the  barn  was  forth- 
with untied  and  taken  out  the  back  way  down 
to  Jensen's  Wharf. 

It  was  the  cunningest  goat  you  ever  saw, 
lively  but  good,  and  so  pretty  —  light  gray, 
with  a  little  beard.  Mother  had  bought  it  early 
in  the  spring.  On  Sundays  it  had  a  blue  ribbon 
around  its  neck,  and  other  days  a  red  worsted 
collar  with  a  white  button.  It  was  a  great 
pet. 

John  had  lately  decided  that  there  was  too 
little  grass  for  it  back  of  the  barn  and  that  the 
goat  must  go  every  day  over  to  Grassy  Island 
for  a  good  meal. 

There  was  no  trouble  in  getting  the  goat  down 
to  the  wharf,  for  it  would  follow  John  wherever 
he  went.  To  get  it  into  the  boat  was  another 
matter,  but  that  was  accomplished  at  last,  and 
they  started  out  over  the  water.  John  rowed 
and  Asta  was  to  hold  the  goat;  but  suddenly  it 
got  contrary.  It  kicked  out  in  spiteful  fashion, 


ONE     DAY    IN     VACATION 


ONE  DAY  IN  VACATION  115 

put  its  head  right  against  Asta's  stomach,  and 
was  altogether  unruly. 

"Hold  it  still,  why  don't  you?"  shouted 
John.  Asta  struggled  and  strove,  but  without 
success. 

"Oh,  how  stupid  you  are!"  exclaimed  her 
brother. 

Evidently  he  would  have  to  attend  to  the  goat 
if  it  was  to  be  made  to  behave.  With  this 
thought,  Johnny  Blossom  laid  his  oars  down 
and  scrambled  over  the  thwart.  Now  indeed 
was  there  a  great  to-do!  The  goat  kicked  and 
the  boat  rocked  and  tipped  in  a  frightful  manner. 
Johnny  Blossom  strove  his  best  to  get  control, 
but  the  goat's  legs  went  like  drumsticks.  The 
boat  took  in  water  at  a  great  rate  as  it  rocked 
violently  from  side  to  side. 

" You'll  go  into  the  water,  youngsters!" 
shouted  some  one  from  the  shore.  It  was  Pilot 
Stiansen. 

Indeed,  they  wouldn't  go  into  the  water! 
Oh,  the  horrid  little  goat! 

"You  row,"  shouted  Johnny  to  Asta,  "and 
I'll  hold  it." 

While  Asta  was  changing  her  place  in  the  boat, 
the  goat  kicked  its  liveliest,  and  the  boat  tipped 
so  far  over  that  it  seemed  as  if  it  must  capsize 


ii6  JOHNNY  BLOSSOM 

the  next  instant.  Before  they  knew  it,  Pilot 
Stiansen  was  right  beside  them  in  his  big  fishing 
boat. 

"You  wild  youngsters!  If  ever  I  saw  your 
equal!"  he  grumbled  behind  his  red-brown 
beard.  "Sit  still,  I  tell  you!" 

Pilot  Stiansen  produced  a  piece  of  rope  and, 
reaching  over,  tied  the  goat's  legs  together, 
then  took  the  children's  boat  in  tow  and  towards 
shore  they  went.  The  idea  of  their  being  towed ! 
What  a  way  to  be  treated!  They  would  have 
got  along  beautifully  if  that  meddlesome  old 
pilot  hadn't  come  and  spoiled  all  their  pleasure. 
Perhaps  he  would  tattle  about  it,  too. 

"Go  home  now,  like  good  children,"  said 
Pilot  Stiansen,  as  he  untied  the  goat's  legs. 
"And  don't  do  anything  like  this  again." 

"Pooh!  He  thought  we  would  drown,"  said 
Asta.  "Silly!" 

Johnny  Blossom  also  was  indignant  over  the 
pilot's  interference  with  their  fine  plan  for 
feeding  the  goat.  But  it  wasn't  the  stupidest 
thing  in  the  world  to  tie  the  goat's  legs  together. 
In  the  afternoon  they  would  do  that,  and  Pilot 
Stiansen  needn't  trouble  himself  any  more  over 
their  affairs. 

Johnny  Blossom  hastened   to  get   Mother's 


ONE  DAY  IN  VACATION  117 

sharpest  scissors  —  the  big  shiny  ones  —  for 
he  intended  to  cut  some  long  strips  of  stout 
cloth  to  tie  the  goat's  legs  with.  Johnny  cut 
and  cut.  Suddenly  the  big  blades  slipped, 
caught  Johnny's  little  finger,  and  before  he  knew 
it,  had  cut  the  tip  of  it  clean  off!  It  hurt  awfully 
—  oh,  well  —  not  so  terribly  after  all ;  but  my, 
oh,  my!  how  it  bled!  Johnny  Blossom  bound 
his  not  over-clean  handkerchief  around  it,  but 
still  the  blood  came.  Now  it  was  all  over  his 
trousers.  Perhaps  he  had  better  hide  until  it 
stopped. 

"Mother!  Mother!"  shrieked  As ta.  "Here's 
a  piece  of  a  finger,  with  your  big  shears,  lying 
on  the  attic  stairs!" 

"It  is  John's,"  said  Mother  instantly  and  with 
the  utmost  certainty. 

The  doctor  was  sent  for,  the  finger-end  sewed 
on,  and  the  hand  bandaged. 

"  There  aren't  many  persons  with  a  sewed-on 
finger  tip,  are  there,  mother?"  asked  John, 
with  some  pride. 

"No,  fortunately  not,"  replied  Mother. 

In  the  evening  who  should  come  to  visit 
Father  but  the  elderly,  spectacled  gentleman 
they  had  rowed  to  shore  in  the  morning! 


n8  JOHNNY  BLOSSOM 

"Why,  here  are  my  small  boatmen!"  said 
the  gentleman. 

"Boatmen?"  repeated  Father,  astonished. 

"Yes.  They  rowed  me  ashore  from  the 
steamer." 

"Now,  how  pleasant  that  was,  that  they 
could  be  of  service  to  you,"  said  Father. 

What  would  Father  think  if  he  knew  that 
they  had  taken  money  for  rowing  a  person 
ashore?  Oh,  dear!  That  had  been  wrong  then. 
Johnny  Blossom  sat  doubled  together,  scowling 
fiercely,  as  was  his  habit  when  he  was  worried 
about  anything.  That  miserable  five  cents  — 
why  had  they  taken  it  ? 

At  night  Johnny  lay  wide  awake,  waiting 
for  his  mother's  good-night  visit. 

"Aren't  you  sleepy,  John?" 

"No,  I've  got  something  I  must  tell  you." 

"What  is  it,  little  John?" 

"We  took  five  cents  from  that  gentleman  for 
rowing  him  ashore." 

"  Why,  John,  my  boy !    Did  you  ? " 

"Yes,  but  I  asked  him  if  he  thought  that 
was  dear." 

"But  Father  would  not  like  your  doing  this, 
John." 

"No,  that's  why  I  told  you,"  said  John. 


ONE  DAY  IN  VACATION  119 

"Have  you  said  your  prayers?" 

"No,  I  was  just  thinking  about  that,"  replied 
John.  "  I  was  thinking  that  perhaps  I  had  better 
say,  'Now  I  lay  me'  and  'Our  Father*  both 
tonight,  on  account  of  the  ringer  tip  and  the  five 
cents  and  everything  else  today,  Mother."  And 
John  looked  inquiringly  up  at  his  mother  to 
see  whether  she  approved. 

"Yes,"  said  Mother.  So  Johnny  Blossom 
said  his  prayers  with  his  eyes  tightly  squeezed 
together,  and  fell  asleep  immediately  after. 

"And  there  are  several  weeks  more  of  vaca- 
tion," sighed  Mother. 


x    Tellers  Grarvdmother 


"^\     EALLY,  no  pleasanter  place  was  to  be 

"vf  found  than  down  at  Sandy  Point,  where 
11  \^x  Tellef  lived.  The  shabby  gray  hut 
stood  among  locust  and  wild  cherry  trees  on  a 
small  green  plot,  and  if  you  went  up  on  the  knoll 
back  of  the  house  you  could  get  a  wide  view  of 
the  glorious  open  sea. 

Tellef  and  Johnny  Blossom  had  been  friends 
ever  since  that  time  long  ago  when  they  had  had 
a  fight  and  he  had  broken  Tellef  s  fishpole,  and 
then  had  given  him  the  two  half-dollars  he  had 
got  from  Uncle  Isaac.  Never  since  had  they 
been  anything  but  the  best  of  friends. 

Another  thing  that  was  pleasant  about  going 
to  TellePs  was  that  no  one  there  talked  to  him 
about  being  heir  of  Kingthorpe  and  all  that. 
He  was  sick  of  that  subject  now. 


120 


TELLEF'S  GRANDMOTHER  121 

And  yet  there  was  something  sad,  too,  at 
Tellefs  house,  for  Tellef s  grandmother  was 
blind.  Just  think!  When  she  went  out  of  doors 
she  had  to  keep  her  hand  on  the  house  and  walk 
that  way,  going  round  and  round  it;  and  that 
looked  so  queer.  Sometimes  she  would  sit 
right  down  on  the  grass  and  cry  because  she 
could  not  see ;  and  somehow  it  seemed  especially 
sad  that  she  should  cry  with  those  sightless 
eyes. 

"Aren't  you  glad  that  you  can  see?"  said 
Grandmother  to  the  boys  one  day.  "Don't 
you  thank  God  every  day  for  your  good  eyes?" 

No,  Johnny  Blossom  had  never  thought  of 
such  a  thing.  He  shut  his  eyes  tight  so  as  to 
know  how  it  would  seem  to  be  blind.  Oh,  dear, 
it  must  be  dreadful !  Think  of  everything  being 
dark  —  always,  always  dark ! 

One  day  he  and  Tellef  took  the  grandmother 
up  on  the  knoll.  She  longed  to  feel  the  salt 
wind  blowing  directly  from  the  water,  she  said. 
So  there  she  stood,  with  her  gray  hair  tossing 
about  her  wistful  old  face,  and  with  her  sightless 
eyes  turned  toward  the  sea. 

"It  was  very  kind  of  you  boys  to  bring  me  up 
here/'  said  Grandmother.  "Oh,  if  I  could  only 
see  the  water!  Is  it  smooth  and  bright?" 


122  JOHNNY  BLOSSOM 

"Yes,  it  is  like  a  mirror,  Grandmother," 
answered  Tellef. 

"Are  there  many  ships  in  sight?" 

"Yes,  there  goes  a  steamer  to  the  east,  and  a 
beautiful  boat  lies  right  near  here,  and  far  out 
there  is  sail  after  sail." 

"Far  out?"  asked  Grandmother. 

"Yes,  far  out  against  the  sky." 

"Far  out  against  the  sky,"  repeated  Grand- 
mother, staring  with  her  sightless  eyes.  Then 
she  sat  down  to  rest,  with  her  hands  folded  under 
her  apron  and  her  face  still  turned  seaward, 
while  Tellef  and  Johnny  Blossom  played  about 
in  the  heather. 

"It  must  be  dreadful  to  be  blind,"  said  Johnny 
to  Tellef. 

"Yes,"  said  Tellef,  tearing  up  bits  of  heather 
and  tossing  them  away.  "It  is  cataracts  Grand- 
mother has  in  her  eyes." 

"Is  it?"  said  Johnny. 

When  they  joined  Grandmother  again,  she 
said:  "It  would  be  almost  too  much  to  ask  of 
any  one,  but  if  the  master  of  Kingthorpe  were 
alive,  I  do  believe  I  should  have  the  courage  to 
ask  him  for  money  enough  to  go  and  have  my 
eyes  operated  upon,  so  that  if  possible  I  might 
see  the  ocean  again." 


TELLEF'S  GRANDMOTHER  123 

Then  they  took  Grandmother  carefully  down 
the  hill,  one  boy  on  each  side  of  her. 

"Now  that  was  kind  of  you,"  said  Grand- 
mother as  she  sat  once  more  on  the  slope  in 
front  of  the  house. 

Johnny  Blossom  dashed  homeward  over  the 
hill,  bounding  his  swiftest  so  as  to  get  home 
soon,  for  he  had  thought  of  something  he  was 
eager  to  carry  out.  If  the  master  of  Kingthorpe 
were  alive  Grandmother  would  ask  him  for 
money,  she  had  said.  Well,  but  really  —  he, 
Johnny  Blossom,  was  master  of  Kingthorpe 
now,  so  he  must,  of  course,  attend  to  it.  And 
he  knew  how  he  could  do  it.  He  would  sell  the 
fishing  rod  Uncle  Isaac  had  given  him  —  it 
cost  an  awful  lot  of  money,  Miss  Melling  had 
said  —  and  Grandmother  should  have  all  he 
got  for  it.  And  his  collection  of  coins  —  he 
would  sell  that,  too.  It  ought  to  bring  a  lot  of 
money  —  those  old  two-shilling  pieces  were  so 
curious ;  and  there  was  the  English  coin  —  my ! 
that  was  worth  ever  so  much !  —  and  the  queer 
old  medal. 

Wasn't  there  something  else  he  could  sell  so 
that  Grandmother  should  see  the  ocean  and 
everything  again  ?  Oh,  of  course  —  all  those 
books  about  Indians;  they  must  be  worth  a 


124  JOHNNY  BLOSSOM 

good  deal  and  he  had  at  least  twelve  of  them. 
And  his  collection  of  eggs!  Why,  yes!  They 
were  perfectly  beautiful  eggs,  and  rare,  many  of 
them.  To  be  sure  almost  every  one  was  broken 
a  little  on  one  side.  That  didn't  matter  a  bit 
when  they  were  placed  nicely  in  a  box,  but 
perhaps  people  who  bought  eggs  would  rather 
have  them  whole.  Well,  the  fishing  rod  was 
valuable,  anyway. 

Johnny  Blossom  was  as  red  as  a  peony  from 
his  swift  running  when  he  dashed  in  upon  his 
mother. 

"Mother  dear,  can't  you  sell  that  fishing  rod 
for  me  that  I  got  from  Uncle  Isaac?" 

"Sell  your  fishing  rod?  Indeed,  you  must 
not  think  of  such  a  thing." 

"Oh,  yes,  I  must.  I  must.  And  my  coin 
collection  —  awfully  rare,  some  of  the  coins 
are,  really;  and  my  egg  collection,  too  —  there 
are  three  perfectly  whole  eggs  in  it,  at  the  very 
least,  and" — 

"But  why  in  the  world  should  you  sell  all 
these  things?" 

"Oh,  so  that  —  so  that  —  I  tell  you  what, 
Mother,  it  is  dreadful  to  be  blind." 

Mother  stared  in  blank  amazement. 

"And  Tellefs  grandmother  says  that  if  the 


TELLERS  GRANDMOTHER  125 

master  of  Kingthorpe  were  alive,  she  would  ask 
him  for  money  to  go  and  have  her  eyes  operated 
on.  It  costs  frightfully,  you  see,  Mother,  and  I 
have  to  be  the  master  of  Kingthorpe  now;  so 
I  want  to  give  Tellef's  grandmother  the  money. 
I  must  do  it  because  Uncle  Isaac  would,  and  I 
am  the  Kingthorpe  heir." 

Johnny  Blossom  talked  so  fast  that  his  words 
tumbled  over  each  other.  "Oh,  I  must,"  he 
continued,  "for  Grandmother  said  it  would  be 
heavenly  to  see  the  ocean  once  more." 

Mother  patted  Johnny's  hand.  "We'll  think 
about  it,  little  John,  and  talk  it  over  with 
Father." 

But  Johnny  went  to  work  at  once  to  take  the 
fishing  rod  apart,  and  then  wrapped  it  very 
carefully  in  old  newspapers.  Great  sport  it 
would  have  been  to  have  this  fine  rod  to  fish  with 
—  it  was  such  a  beauty  —  but  think  of  not  being 
able  to  see,  just  to  walk  around  a  house  holding 
on  to  the  walls !  My,  oh,  my !  how  frightfully 
sad  that  was! 

"  I  hear  that  you  wish  to  sell  your  fishing  rod 
so  as  to  get  money  for  Tellef  s  grandmother," 
said  Father  at  the  dinner  table.  "Very  well, 
John.  I  will  buy  it  and  you  shall  run  over  to 
Sandy  Point  with  the  money  this  afternoon." 


126  JOHNNY  BLOSSOM 

Johnny  grew  crimson  with  pleasure.  "Oh, 
thank  you,  thank  you!" 

"You  may  bring  me  the  fishing  rod,"  said 
Father. 

"It's  all  packed,"  answered  Johnny. 

Then  Father  gave  Johnny  a  sealed  envelope. 

"Take  great  care  of  this  —  there  is  a  good  deal 
of  money  in  it  —  and  run  down  to  Tellef  s  grand- 
mother with  it  at  once.  Say  that  it  conies  from 
Kingthorpe." 

So  Johnny  Blossom  dashed  over  the  hill 
again.  This  was  something  worth  hurrying 
for.  When  he  came  to  Sandy  Point,  he 
saw  the  grandmother  walking  alone  around 
the  outside  of  the  house,  feeling  her  way  as 
usual. 

"Good  day,"  said  Johnny  Blossom,  bowing 
low.  "Please  take  this"  —  and  he  put  the 
envelope  into  her  hand. 

"What  is  it?"  asked  Grandmother. 

"It's  money  so  that  you  can  be  made  to  see 
again,"  answered  Johnny,  earnestly. 

"What  are  you  talking  about,  boy?" 

"I  thought  it  was  so  awfully  sad  that  you 
couldn't  see  —  not  the  trees,  nor  the  flowers, 
nor  the  ocean,  nor  anything  —  and  so  —  and  so 
—  Father  said  that  I  must  tell  you  that  this 


TELLEFS  GRANDMOTHER  127 

envelope  came  from  Kingthorpe;  but  open  it, 
open  it!" 

Johnny  Blossom  was  so  excited  that  he  kept 
hopping  around.  Grandmother  sat  herself  right 
down  on  the  ground. 

"It's  more  than  I  can  bear,"  she  said.  "I'm 
all  weak  and  trembly  in  my  knees.  God  bless 
you,  boy,  what  is  it  you  say?  Shall  I  see  once 
more?  Oh,  God's  mercy  is  great!" 

Johnny  kept  on  hopping.  "Yes,  you'll  see 
everything,  everything!" 

"  I  hear  they  call  you  the  heir  of  Kingthorpe," 
said  Grandmother,  "  and  I  believe  you  are  going 
to  be  just  like  the  old  master." 

By  this  time  TellePs  mother  and  Tellef  and 
his  sisters  had  joined  them;  the  envelope  was 
opened  and  several  bills  fell  out. 

"Did  you  ever  in  your  life!"  exclaimed 
Tellef s  mother.  "Here's  two  hundred  dollars, 
Grandmother." 

My,  oh  my!  All  that  money  for  a  fishing 
rod,  thought  Johnny,  still  dancing  gleefully 
around  Grandmother.  But  all  at  once  Grand- 
mother started  up  eagerly  and  began  to  talk 
fast: 

"I  must  go  right  away.  Come  and  help  me. 
I  have  no  time  to  lose.  I  have  not  seen  the  ocean 


128  JOHNNY  BLOSSOM 

for  twelve  years.  I  must  go  right  away.  Oh, 
to  think  that  the  good  God  has  remembered 
me,  poor  old  body  that  I  am!" 

"You  must  thank  Johnny  Blossom,  Grand- 
mother," said  TellePs  mother. 

"I'm  fairly  out  of  my  wits  with  joy,"  replied 
Grandmother. 

That  night  when  Mother  came  into  Johnny's 
room  to  say  good  night,  she  found  him  wide 
awake.  His  eyes  were  big  and  earnest  as  he 
whispered,  "Oh,  Mother,  it  is  wonderful  to  be 
heir  of  Kingthorpe."  And  Johnny  Blossom 
that  night,  for  the  first  time  in  his  life,  prayed  a 
prayer  that  he  made  himself,  instead  of  repeating 
the  Lord's  Prayer.  He  said: 

"Thank  you,  God,  for  all  the  money  for  the 
fishing  rod.  Let  Tellefs  grandmother  be  made 
to  see  everything  again.  And  thank  you  be- 
cause I  am  heir  of  Kingthorpe.  In  Jesus'  name. 
Amen." 

Tellefs  grandmother  went  away  and  stayed 
a  long  time.  Johnny  Blossom  had  almost  for- 
gotten the  whole  matter  when  Tellef  said  to  him 
one  day,  "Grandmother  is  coming  home  to- 
morrow, and  she  can  see!"  So  the  next  day 
Johnny  Blossom  and  Tellef's  mother  and  sisters 


,     TELLERS  GRANDMOTHER  129 

with  Tellef  went  to  the  wharf  to  meet  Grand- 
mother, who  was  coming  by  boat. 

Up  the  gangplank  she  walked,  entirely  alone, 
and  looking  around  with  a  radiantly  happy 
face. 

"You  must  speak  to  Johnny  Blossom  too, 
Grandmother,"  said  Tellef's  mother.  Johnny 
came  forward,  bowed  low,  and  reached  out  to 
Grandmother  a  little  sunburned  hand. 

"I  thank  you,  sir,"  said  Grandmother.  "I 
thank  you,  sir." 

Many  persons  were  standing  around,  all 
looking  at  Grandmother  and  Johnny  Blossom. 

"It  is  this  little  gentleman  who  has  given  me 
my  eyes  again,  friends.  What  a  blessed  miracle 
it  is  that  I  can  see!" 

Everybody  looked  at  Johnny  Blossom.  Aw- 
fully embarrassing  to  have  them  stare  so !  But 
later  Johnny  sat  on  the  top  of  the  hill  and 
sang,  "  Yes  we  love  our  grand  old  Norway,"  with 
the  greatest  enthusiasm,  he  was  so  overflowing 
with  joy. 


CHAPTER     fgLJbg   •    The  Pet 
XI  I       Horse 


OW  impossible  Father  was  to  under- 
stand! Why  couldn't  he  decide  about 
Ji  the  little  horse  that  Carlstrom  had  said 
"the  young  gentleman"  might  ride?  Johnny 
Blossom  had  been  out  to  the  Kingthorpe  stables 
a  number  of  times  to  see  the  horse.  My,  oh,  my ! 
but  it  was  a  beauty !  It  was  small  and  trim,  dun- 
colored,  with  black  mane;  and  oh,  how  swiftly 
and  gracefully  it  could  run  on  those  slender 
legs!  No,  Father  could  have  no  idea  how  re- 
markable it  was  that  Carlstrom  had  offered 
to  let  him  ride  —  and  such  a  horse  as  that ! 

However,  one  morning  in  the  first  week  of 
vacation,  Father  said :  '"  You  may  begin  to  ride 
now,  John.  I  had  a  talk  with  Carlstrom 
yesterday." 

"Thank  you,  Father." 

"  I  do  not  need  to  say  that  you  must  be  kind 
to  the  horse  and  do  exactly  as  Carlstrom  says." 

"Of  course.  I'm  going  now."  And  Johnny 
130 


THE  PET  HORSE  131 

Blossom  ran  at  topmost  speed,  so  as  not  to  lose 
a  second's  time  in  getting  out  to  the  little  yellow 
horse. 

Carlstrom  was  extraordinarily  kind. 

"  We  could  have  sent  the  horse  in  to  the  young 
gentleman,"  he  said,  with  extreme  politeness. 

"Let  the  horse  go  away  into  town  just  for 
me!"  said  Johnny,  amazed.  "Oh,  no.  It  is 
better  that  I  should  run  out  here.  I  ran  like 
the  wind." 

Oh,  what  joy  it  was  to  ride !  It  was  like  having 
wings  and  flying  through  the  air!  Carlstrom 
showed  him  just  how  to  hold  the  reins  and  to  sit 
on  the  horse;  and  the  little  horse  trotted  and 
John  rose  in  the  saddle,  and  his  face  shone. 

"Thank  you  very  much."  He  bowed  low  to 
Carlstrom  when  at  last  he  must  go  home. 

After  this,  the  moment  he  had  swallowed  his 
breakfast,  off  he  would  run  to  Kingthorpe ;  come 
home  at  noon,  eat  his  dinner,  and  run  straight 
out  there  again. 

Father  said  it  was  best  he  should  not  ride  in 
the  town,  but  only  out  near  Kingthorpe.  Natu- 
rally, however,  it  was  not  long  before  the  boys 
knew  that  Johnny  Blossom,  every  single  day, 
trotted  around  Kingthorpe  on  a  beautiful  horse ; 
and  of  course  the  boys  flocked  out  to  King- 


132  JOHNNY  BLOSSOM 

thorpe.  They  sat  by  the  big  pine  tree  and  waited 
until  Johnny  Blossom  came  riding  along.  It 
was  great  fun  for  him  when  they  thronged  around 
him,  exclaiming  over  everything,  while  he  sat 
erect  in  the  saddle,  whip  in  hand. 

Even  the  great  big  boys  of  the  Fourth  Class 
came.  Otto  Holm  himself,  who  wore  a  stiff 
hat  and  carried  a  cane,  sat  and  waited  to  see 
him,  little  Johnny  Blossom!  By  and  by  it 
came  about  that  they  asked  if  they  might  not 
ride,  just  a  little  way  —  Otto  Holm  and  Peter 
Prytz  and  Gunnar  Olsen,  and  it  was  too  em- 
barrassing to  say  no  to  such  great  big  fellows. 

"If  you  want  to  play  ball  with  us  in  the 
afternoons,  you  may,"  said  Otto. 

Indeed  Johnny  Blossom  wanted  to!  He 
had  hung  over  the  fence  day  after  day,  looking 
at  the  big  boys,  who  played  in  their  shirt  sleeves 
and  without  caps,  and  looked  so  manly.  And 
these  boys  were  asking  him  to  play  with  them! 
Of  course  they  must  ride,  they  were  so  very 
friendly  to  him.  It  made  him  feel  quite  grand, 
too,  to  be  the  one  to  decide  whether  they  should 
ride  or  not. 

"It  isn't  worth  while  for  you  to  say  anything 
at  home  about  our  riding,"  said  Otto.  Oh,  no! 
Johnny  wouldn't  say  anything. 


THE  PET  HORSE  133 

Day  after  day  he  found  the  group  of  big  boys 
waiting  for  him.  They  did  not  embarrass  him 
now  by  asking  for  rides,  but  took  his  permission 
so  for  granted  that  he  himself  had  scarcely  any 
chance  to  ride.  However,  it  was  interesting, 
because  it  was  his  horse,  after  all,  and  they  kept 
appealing  to  him. 

"Isn't  it  my  turn  now,  Johnny  Blossom?" 

"He's  mean,  he  is.    It's  mine!" 

"Are  you  crazy?  He  rode  only  yesterday, 
John." 

"Oh,  John!  Tell  him  to  get  off  and  let  me 
ride!" 

"Don't  you  do  it!    It's  really  my  turn." 

My,  oh,  my !    How  exciting  it  was ! 

Bob  —  that  was  the  horse's  name  —  knew 
Johnny  whenever  he  went  into  the  stable ;  there 
was  no  doubt  about  that,  for  the  little  horse 
would  turn  around  in  his  stall  and  whinny  at 
the  sound  of  the  boy's  step  or  voice.  Of  course 
Johnny  always  had  sugar  for  him  and  brushed 
his  pretty  coat  for  him  every  day  —  dear,  cun- 
ning little  Bob! 

One  day  Otto  Holm  proposed  that  they  should 
see  who  could  ride  most  quickly  over  a  certain 
distance.  Otto,  who  of  course  had  a  watch, 
should  manage  the  starting;  and  Peter  Prytz 


134  JOHNNY  BLOSSOM 

should  be  timekeeper  at  the  turning  point;  and 
the  time  was  to  be  kept  strictly,  even  to  the 
seconds,  exactly  as  in  real  races.  They  all 
thought  Otto's  idea  a  fine  one,  but  again  they 
said  to  Johnny,  "Now  don't  go  and  tattle 
about  this  at  home,  for  then  all  the  fun  would 
be  over." 

Oh,  no,  Johnny  would  tell  nothing.  Great 
sport  this  race  was  going  to  be  for  him,  because 
of  course  he  would  ride  the  swiftest  of  all,  being 
the  most  accustomed  to  riding.  The  boys  de- 
voted several  days  to  practising  for  the  great 
race  w,hich  was  to  come  off  on  Saturday. 

The  weather  that  day  was  damp  and  close, 
and  the  roads  were  very  muddy  because  it  had 
rained  hard  through  the  night;  but  all  the 
boys  were  assembled  at  the  big  pine  tree  when 
Johnny  Blossom  rode  up.  They  cast  lots  to 
determine  the  order  in  which  they  should  ride. 
Otto  had  a  notebook  and  pencil  and  wrote  the 
names.  Johnny  Blossom's,  to  his  disgust,  came 
last  of  all. 

Otto  rode  first.  He  snapped  the  whip  and 
galloped  off,  making  the  mud  fly  in  every  direc- 
tion. There  was  much  disputing  among  the 
waiting  boys  as  to  whether  he  started  at  three  or 
four  seconds  after  eleven. 


THE  PET  HORSE  135 

Why!  There  he  was  back  again.  "Six 
minutes  and  eight  seconds  going,"  he  shouted, 
"and  eight  minutes  and  one  second  coming 
back!" 

The  others  went  each  in  turn,  all  making  fine 
speed.  Johnny  Blossom  gave  Bob  two  lumps  of 
sugar  after  every  trip. 

Finally,  it  was  Johnny's  turn.  "You  are 
really  too  little  to  ride  properly,"  said  Otto. 
"We'll  allow  you  double  time." 

Too  little!  Were  they  crazy?  Indeed  he 
wouldn't  have  double  time.  He  would  ride 
better  than  any  of  them,  he  would.  Who  was 
it  owned  the  horse?  He  would  show  them  who 
could  ride  best;  and  he  struck  Bob  sharply. 
"Away  with  you,  Bob!  Faster!  Faster!" 

But  Bob  was  so  queer  today.  And  he  breathed 
so  strangely.  He  had  been  breathing  something 
like  that  these  last  few  days,  but  today  it  was 
worse,  and  he  didn't  hurry  even  when  Johnny 
struck  him  again  with  the  whip.  Finally  he 
almost  stopped,  and  breathed  more  queerly  than 
ever. 

Oh,  dear!  Johnny  was  in  despair.  The  boys 
had  all  been  much  quicker  than  he,  and  they 
would  just  say  that  he  was  too  little  and  must 
be  allowed  double  time. 


136  JOHNNY  BLOSSOM 

"Hurry  up,  Bob,  I  tell  you!" 

At  last  he  reached  the  turning  point.  Peter 
Prytz,  who  kept  the  time  there,  laughed  up- 
roariously. 

"That  was  awfully  well  done,  Johnny  Blos- 
som! Only  twelve  minutes." 

What  a  shame,  what  a  shame  that  he  should 
be  the  poorest  rider  of  all!  On  the  way  back 
he  whipped  Bob  so  that  the  horse  finally  ran, 
purring,  coughing,  and  stumbling  along. 

All  the  boys  laughed  and  shouted  hurrah 
when  Johnny  got  back  to  the  starting  point. 
How  disgusting  it  was  to  have  people  make 
fun  of  you ! 

"  Bob  breathed  so,"  said  Johnny  Blossom. 

"Is  it  anything  to  worry  about  when  a 
horse  breathes?"  scoffed  Gunnar  Olsen.  "He 
breathed  like  a  bellows  when  I  rode,  but  yet  I 
took  only  eight  minutes  and  four  seconds." 

"  Six  seconds,  you  mean,"  said  Otto. 

"No,  four,  exactly." 

"It  was  six." 

"It  was  four." 

There  they  stood  with  their  angry  faces 
close  together  as  they  quarreled  over  the  two 
seconds.  It  seemed  as  if  the  dispute  might  end 
in  blows. 


THE  PET  HORSE  137 

"It's  pretty  bad,  the  way  you've  ridden  to- 
day," said  Lars  Berget  soberly,  when  Johnny 
Blossom  came  into  the  stable  with  Bob.  "He 
is  all  used  up,  poor  Bobby!" 

"He  breathes  so  queerly,"  said  Johnny 
Blossom. 

"If  you  only  haven't  broken  his  wind,  boy. 
Pretty  risky  —  to  ride  him  the  way  you  have 
these  last  days." 

Oh,  dear!  How  dreadful!  At  home  no  one 
knew  a  thing  about  anything,  and  here  he  had 
behaved  like  this  and  perhaps  hurt  Bob.  To 
"break  a  horse's  wind"  was  dangerous  he  knew, 
because  he  had  heard  about  one  of  the  livery 
stable  horses  that  had  to  be  shot  on  account  of 
being  "broken-winded."  But  Bob!  It  was  im- 
possible that  it  should  go  that  way  with  Bob! 
Oh,  it  couldn't! 

"Why,  John  dear,  aren't  you  eating  any- 
thing?" asked  Mother  that  noon. 

Oh,  he  had  had  enough  —  plenty. 

"It  seems  to  me  you  are  very  pale,"  pursued 
Mother.  "Are  you  sure  you  are  not  sick?" 

Pooh !  Far  from  it.  He  wasn't  the  least  bit  pale. 

Oh,  they  didn't  know  anything  about  the 
trouble  with  Bob,  and  he  didn't  dare  to  say  a 
word  about  the  racing  or  anything. 


138  JOHNNY  BLOSSOM 

As  soon  as  they  left  the  table,  back  he  ran  to 
Kingthorpe.  When  he  went  into  the  stable 
Carlstrom  was  standing  looking  at  Bob. 

"  It's  a  dark  outlook  here  for  the  young  gentle- 
man," said  Carlstrom.  "The  horse's  wind  is 
broken." 

Johnny  Blossom  sat  down  upon  a  box,  with  his 
hands  thrust  deep  in  his  pockets,  and  stared  at 
Bob;  but  not  a  word  passed  his  lips. 

"The  best  thing  to  do  is  to  shoot  him  at 
once,"  continued  Carlstrom. 

Away  darted  Johnny  Blossom  without  a  word. 
Out  of  the  stable,  across  the  grounds,  and  up  to 
an  outlying  field  he  ran  as  if  for  dear  life.  In  a 
far  corner  of  the  field  he  threw  himself  down, 
and  burying  his  face  in  the  grass  cried  bitterly, 
and  so  hard  that  his  whole  body  shook  with  his 
sobbing. 

Oh,  Bob,  Bob !  And  he,  who  was  heir  of  King- 
thorpe, had  abused  the  little  horse!  What  would 
Uncle  Isaac  say  if  he  knew?  And  now  he  could 
never  ride  horseback  any  more !  Oh  —  oh  —  oh ! 
He  must  go  home  and  tell  Mother.  It  was 
dreadful  to  do  it,  but  he  must,  he  must. 

When  he  passed  Kingthorpe,  he  took  care 
not  to  glance  in  that  direction;  it  would  be  too 
sad  to  see  the  stable  and  all  that.  He  had  a  lump 


THE  PET  HORSE  139 

in  his  throat  the  whole  way  and  was  in  utter 
misery,  but  he  kept  on  running  doggedly.  When 
some  boys  called  to  him  he  only  ran  the  faster, 
without  looking  back. 

Mother  sat  alone  on  the  veranda.  How  good 
that  she  was  alone !  John  sat  down  on  the  steps, 
all  doubled  together,  and  said  not  a  word. 

"Well,  John/'  said  Mother,  "is  anything  the 
matter?" 

"Yes,  there  is  something  —  something  per- 
fectly dreadful,  Mother,  but  I've  got  to  tell  you 
about  it." 

"Yes,  that  is  best,  little  John." 

"But  it  is  a -terrible  thing.  Carlstrom  says 
that  I've  ruined  Bob  riding  him  so  hard  and  that 
Bob  must  be"  — 

Johnny  could  say  no  more,  but  threw  himself 
flat  on  the  floor  and  cried.  By  degrees  Mother 
got  him  to  tell  about  the  big  boys,  who  wanted 
to  ride,  about  the  racing  and  everything. 

"It  was  really  shameful  of  those  great  big 
boys,"  said  Mother. 

"Yes,  but  Father  said  I  was  to  be  kind  to  Bob, 
and  careful  of  him  —  and  I  haven't  been," 
sobbed  Johnny.  "And  besides,  I  am  the  heir 
of  Kingthorpe,  you  know,  Mother." 

Johnny's  face  was  swollen  with  crying,  and 


JOHNNY  BLOSSOM 

the  tears  had  made  streaks  down  his  dirty 
cheeks. 

"Of  course  you  should  have  spoken  to  Father 
and  Mother  about  it." 

"Yes." 

Mother  put  him  down  on  the  sofa  and  washed 
his  hot,  tear-stained  face.  Some  time  after  he 
exclaimed,  "Mother." 

"Yes,  little  John?" 

"Do  you  think  Uncle  Isaac  up  in  heaven  is 
sorry  he  made  me  heir  of  Kingthorpe,  because 
of  this  with  Bob?" 

"No,  I  do  not  believe  he  is." 

"Are  you  sure  of  it?"  Johnny's  blue  eyes 
gazed  earnestly  at  his  mother. 

"Yes.    Perfectly  sure." 

There  was  something  else  he  wished  to  ask, 
but  he  scarcely  liked  to  —  perhaps  it  was 
silly.  Well,  he  could  ask  Mother  about  it, 
though  he  wouldn't  ask  any  one  else  in  the 
whole  world. 

"Mother  dear,  don't  you  think  that  Bob  will 
surely  go  to  heaven  when  he  dies?" 


CHAPTER  XII 
The  Umbrella  Advervture 


OHNNY  BLOSSOM  was  entirely  at  a  loss. 
Here  it  was  the  best  part  of  the  vacation  and 
not  a  bit  of  fun  going  on.  It  rained  nearly 
every  day — such  disgustingly  long  showers 
that  if  they  did  ever  hold  up,  it  was  too  sopping 
wet  in  the  grass  and  everywhere  to  do  anything. 
Besides  the  wind  blew  very  hard,  but  that  was 
rather  pleasant,  there  was  so  much  you  could 
do  when  there  was  a  good  wind  —  fly  kites,  for 
instance. 

But  though  kites  were  great  fun,  there  was 
something  else  Tellef  and  he  had  thought  of. 


142  JOHNNY  BLOSSOM 

They  had  not  done  it  yet,  but  they  had  often 
talked  about  it;  and  their  plan  was  that  some 
day,  when  there  was  a  good  brisk  wind,  they 
should  take  that  enormous,  old-fashioned  um- 
brella Tellefs  grandmother  had,  and  use  it  for 
a  sail!  It  would  work  beautifully. 

They  were  not  allowed  to  sail  with  real  sails, 
but  with  an  umbrella  —  pooh !  nobody  could 
object  to  that,  surely.  He  would  hold  the 
umbrella  and  Tellef  would  steer. 

It  was  easy  enough  to  get  possession  of  the 
umbrella,  and  out  at  Sandy  Point  there  was 
always  a  boat  to  be  had  just  by  turning  over 
your  hand,  so  to  speak.  Today  there  was  ex- 
actly the  right  kind  of  a  breeze.  Possibly  it 
was  a  little  strong,  but  that  would  be  only  the 
more  fun.  So  Johnny  Blossom  took  to  his  heels 
and  sped  over  the  hill  to  Tellef. 

The  umbrella  and  the  boat  were  soon  procured 
and  the  boys  started  out.  First  they  rowed  in 
very  proper  fashion  past  the  Tongue  —  a  rather 
high  point  of  land;  but  when  they  were  well 
hidden  by  this  point,  they  pulled  in  the  oars  and 
put  up  the  umbrella  in  a  flash. 

Pshaw!  What  a  beastly  wind!  He  could 
scarcely  hold  the  umbrella,  and  as  for  Tellefs 
steering,  it  was  downright  stupid.  Oh,  oh! 


THE   UMBRELLA  ADVENTURE  143 

Was  the  boat  going  to  upset?  It  was  a  lively 
time.  The  boat  flew  like  an  arrow,  the  waves 
were  high,  the  wind  —  really  he  could  not  hold 
the  umbrella  much  longer.  My,  oh,  my!  how 
far  out  they  were  now.  The  boat  took  in  water 
every  minute  —  whole  buckets  full.  Johnny 
Blossom's  blouse  was  sopping  wet. 

Oh! 

Away  went  the  umbrella,  right  out  of  his 
hands,  and  only  by  a  hair's  breadth  did  the  boat 
escape  capsizing.  Tellef,  as  quick  as  lightning, 
had  thrown  his  weight  to  the  upper  side  of  the 
careening  boat  or  they  would  have  gone  straight 
into  the  water. 

Over  the  sea  sailed  the  umbrella  —  and  there 
were  Johnny  and  Tellef  in  the  rocking  boat  far 
out  from  land. 

"Ugh!  boy!"  said  Tellef. 

"Ugh!  boy!"  said  Johnny. 

"That  wasn't  much  to  do,"  said  Tellef. 
What  it  was  that  wasn't  much  to  do,  Tellef 
didn't  say.  Johnny  only  stared  out  over  the 
gray-blue  splashing  waves. 

Only  think!  He  might  have  been  lying  under 
those  waves  now! 

And  all  at  once  the  truth  smote  him:  he 
ought  not  to  have  done  this;  he  had  known  all 


i44  JOHNNY  BLOSSOM 

the  time  that  he  ought  not,  and  yet  —  he  had 
done  it. 

It  was  only  an  excuse  when  he  had  told  him- 
self that  it  was  all  right  to  sail  with  an  um- 
brella. He  knew  perfectly  well  that  it  wasn't. 
Ugh!  how  disobedient  he  had  been,  he  who 
was  heir  of  Kingthorpe,  too!  Before,  it  didn't 
matter  so  very  much  if  he  were  disobedient;  but 
everything  was  different  now  that  he  was  the 
Kingthorpe  heir.  He  must  not  be  disobedient 
any  more,  for  it  was  shameful.  How  sorry,  how 
sorry  he  was! 

All  this  time  they  were  striving  as  hard  as 
they  could  to  turn  the  boat  toward  shore. 
Johnny's  thoughts  ran  on: 

It  wasn't  because  the  wind  blew  so  furiously 
or  that  the  waves  dashed  so  high  or  that  the 
umbrella  had  floated  away,  that  made  him  so 
sorry!  No  indeed.  Pooh!  Nor  was  it  that  they 
sat  drenched  in  the  tossing  boat  far  out  among 
great  white-capped  waves.  If  he  only  had  not 
been  so  awfully  disobedient. 

Suppose  he  had  been  drowned.  It  would 
have  been  pleasant,  wouldn't  it,  for  him,  the 
heir  of  Kingthorpe,  to  meet  Uncle  Isaac  at  the 
heavenly  gate,  after  being  so  disobedient? 

"This  was  a  crazy  plan,"  said  Tellef.    His  cap 


THE   UMBRELLA  ADVENTURE  145 

had  blown  away,  his  hair  was  dripping  round 
his  ears,  and  he  rowed  with  might  and  main. 

"If  we  can  only  get  behind  the  Tongue,'* 
said  Tellef. 

"If  we  can  only  get  behind  the  Tongue,"  re- 
peated Johnny.  They  rowed  steadily  for  a  while, 
their  red  faces  showing  the  effort  they  made, 
while  the  wind  blew  more  fiercely  than  ever. 

"We  can't  round  the  point,"  said  Tellef. 

"Yes,  we  can,"  said  Johnny  Blossom,  bracing 
his  feet  more  firmly  against  the  bottom  of  the 
boat. 

"Shall  we  shout  for  help?"  asked  Tellef. 

"Oh,  that  would  only  frighten  them  if  they 
heard  us,"  answered  Johnny  Blossom. 

The  great  waves  were  now  driving  the  boat  in 
towards  the  shore,  but  unfortunately  to  the 
outer,  dangerous  side  of  the  Tongue. 

"Shall  we  say  our  prayers?"   asked  Tellef. 

"Not  yet,"  answered  John. 

"for  we  are  surely  going  to  drown,"  con- 
tinued Tellef. 

The  wind  was  roaring  so  that  they  could 
scarcely  hear  each  other  speak. 

The  boat  was  driven  nearer  and  nearer  to  the 
shore.  "It  is  going  to  strike  and  we  must  jump 
for  the  land,"  screamed  Johnny.  The  instant 


146  JOHNNY  BLOSSOM 

after,  the  boat  did  strike,  and  Tellef  and  John 
were  thrown  head  first  onto  the  smooth  beach. 

Tellef  had  been  thrown  farthest  up;  he  pulled 
John  to  where  he  was,  and  there  they  lay,  pant- 
ing, while  the  boat  swung  and  tossed  in  the  sea, 
a  little  way  out. 

"Now  we  are  saved,"  said  Tellef. 

But  my,  oh,  my !  how  wet  they  were !  They 
sprang  to  their  feet  and  ran  —  up  over  the 
Tongue,  over  mound  and  marsh;  they  climbed 
over  fences  and  waded  through  thick-growing 
heather.  Now  and  again  they  glanced  seaward, 
seeking  the  boat  and  the  umbrella,  but  not  a 
scrap  of  either  was  to  be  seen  —  a  fine  result 
from  their  grand  adventure,  truly! 

"  You'd  better  come  into  our  house  to  get 
yourself  dry,"  said  Tellef. 

"  But  the  umbrella,"  said  Johnny. 

"Yes  —  it  was  as  unlucky  as  it  could  be," 
said  Tellef.  "Perhaps  it  is  as  well  not  to  say 
anything  about  the  umbrella  just  at  first." 

But  no  sooner  had  they  come  into  the  little 
kitchen  where  TellePs  mother  was  roasting 
coffee  over  an  open  fire  than  John  said : 

"The  worst  thing  is  about  the  umbrella." 

"About  what  umbrella?"  asked  Tellef s 
mother. 


THE   UMBRELLA  ADVENTURE  147 

"Grandmother's.    It  blew  away." 

TellePs  mother  was  very  much  out  of  patience, 
but  she  wrung  the  water  from  Johnny's  blouse 
and  hung  the  blouse  by  the  fire. 

"And  you,"  she  said  sharply,  "the  King- 
thorpe  heir  —  to  behave  like  this!" 

Oh,  yes  —  it  was  just  that  that  made  every- 
thing worse.  Johnny  Blossom  sat  in  his  shirt 
sleeves  close  by  the  hearth,  staring  thoughtfully 
into  the  fire. 

It  was  being  heir  of  Kingthorpe,  he  could 
plainly  see,  that  made  things  difficult;  for,  truly, 
hadn't  everything  been  easier  when  he  was  just 
Johnny  Blossom?  There  was  so  much  to  think 
of  now  —  responsibility  and  all  that.  But  still, 
he  really  wanted  to  be  good;  he  really  and 
truly  did;  though  he  hadn't  seemed  to  succeed 
very  well. 

Johnny  Blossom  sat  crouched  together  on  the 
veranda  steps,  Mother  sat  on  the  veranda  sew- 
ing, and  the  sun  shone  hotly  down.  Long  silence. 

"Well,  John,"  said  Mother.  "What  is  the 
matter?" 

How  could  Mother  know  that  anything  was 
the  matter?  for  he  had  just  sat  there  stock  still 
and  had  not  said  a  single  word! 


i48  JOHNNY  BLOSSOM 

"Oh,  there  are  some  things  that  are  so  hard, 
Mother." 

"Yes,  I  know  that." 

"  Mother  dear,  must  I  be  the  Kingthorpe  heir  ? " 

"Yes,  you  must,  John." 

"Well.  I've  been  out  sailing  with  an  um- 
brella"— 

"But  John,  John!  You  knew  perfectly  well 
that  you  ought  not  to  do  that!" 

"  Yes,  but  I  just  forgot  it  for  a  minute  or  two, 
Mother." 

"That's  only  an  excuse,  John.  You  remem- 
bered it  all  the  time.  Look  me  right  in  the  eye 
and  say  whether  you  didn't  remember  it." 

Johnny  blinked  at  a  great  rate,  and  then 
looked  straight  at  his  mother.  Yes,  he  had 
remembered  it,  that  is  to  say,  deep  in,  he  had. 

"  Exactly  —  'deep  in'  —  that  was  Conscience, 
little  John." 

"There  is  so  much  to  remember,  Mother!" 

"No.  What  Father  and  Mother  tell  you 
about  right  and  wrong  is  not  too  much  for 
you  to  remember." 

Deep  silence. 

"The  umbrella  blew  away,  Mother,  and  the 
boat  is  lost,  too." 

"Tell  me  all  about  it." 


THE   UMBRELLA  ADVENTURE  149 

"The  waves  were  too  high,  you  see  —  that's 
the  way  it  all  came;  and  the  umbrella  was  too 
frightfully  heavy;  but  we  landed  head  first,  if 
you'll  believe  it.  This  is  the  way  we  fell  over 
each  other."  And  Johnny  Blossom  demon- 
strated on  the  veranda  floor  how  they  had  been 
cast  ashore. 

"You  got  wet  then?" 

"Oh,  yes.  You  may  know  we  were  wet,  sop- 
ping wet.  We  were  almost  upset  in  the  sea,  you 
understand;  we  were  nearly  drowned." 

."Oh,  John!  My  dear  little  John!"  Mother 
was  so  frightened  that  she  drew  him  into  her 
arms. 

:<Yes,  but  you  see  we  didn't  drown;  and  my 
blouse  got  dry  as  tinder  at  the  fireplace  in 
Tellef's  house.  Just  feel  how  dry  it  is!" 

"But  isn't  your  shirt  wet?" 

''Yes,  that's  wet,"  admitted  Johnny  Blossom. 

The  next  day  Mother  said:  "Father  and  I 
have  decided,  John,  that  you  shall  go  away  for 
a  while  this  vacation.  You  shall  go  to  visit 
Mrs.  Beck  at  Ballerud.  That  will  be  pleasant 
for  you,  and  as  it  is  an  inland  country  place,  I 
shan't  have  to  be  in  constant  anxiety  about 
your  falling  into  the  sea." 


n\e  Birthday 
Party 


first  of  September  was  Johnny  Blos- 
som's birthday,  and  Father  and  Mother 
had  decided  that  he  should  have  a  party 
and  that  the  party  should  be  held  at  Kingthorpe. 
How  delightful  that  would  be! 

He  was  to  be  allowed  to  invite  just  exactly 
whom  he  pleased,  especially  those  who  had  been 
kind  to  him,  Mother  said.  My,  oh,  my!  but 
that  would  mean  a  good  many! 

Soon  after  this  plan  was  made,  all  the  house- 
hold went  out  to  Kingthorpe  one  day  —  Father, 
Mother,  Asta,  Andrea,  Dagny,  and  Johnny 
Blossom,  of  course,  and  the  two  maids. 

Wide  open  stood  the  park  gates,  wide  open  the 
heavy,  richly  wrought  gates  to  the  courtyard, 
where  the  fountain  was  splashing  musically; 
wide  open,  too,  the  great  entrance  doors  and  all 
the  doors  between  the  rooms,  so  that  light  and 
air  streamed  once  more  through  the  long-closed 
mansion.  Very  big  and  beautiful  it  looked  in 

150 


JOHNNY'S  BIRTHDAY  PARTY  151 

the  bright  sunshine,  and  its  curtains  flutter- 
ing in  the  summer  wind  seemed  to  be  waving 
a  welcome  from  the  windows. 

In  the  lofty,  echoing  rooms  everything  had 
been  left  undisturbed:  the  furniture  with  its 
silken  upholstery,  the  mirrors  reaching  from 
floor  to  ceiling,  the  great  paintings  that  filled 
the  walls,  and  the  art  treasures,  gathered  from 
every  corner  of  the  world.  Many  of  these 
tapestries  and  vases  and  statues  were  extremely 
rare,  but  to  Johnny  Blossom  they  were  only 
queer,  especially  a  certain  Indian  idol  with  an 
ugly  face  made  of  gold.  Why  should  any  one 
want  that? 

Mother  went  about,  uncovering  mirrors  and 
furniture  until  the  room  which  was  called  the 
white  salon  showed  all  white  and  yellow,  with 
its  gilding  and  its  silken  damask  cushions 
gleaming  in  the  strong  September  sunlight. 

"I  think  Uncle  Isaac  would  like  that  there 
should  be  a  festival  at  Kingthorpe  on  the  first 
birthday  you  have  after  becoming  the  King- 
thorpe heir,  John,"  said  Mother. 

Johnny  Blossom  went  storming  through  the 
rooms.  My,  oh,  my!  how  little  he  seemed  when 
he  looked  at  himself  in  those  enormous  mirrors. 
Soon,  however,  he  was  walking  on  the  railing 


152  JOHNNY  BLOSSOM 

of  the  veranda.  What  a  veranda  it  was,  with 
its  massive  stone  pillars  and  broad  steps  of 
white  marble  leading  to  the  grounds!  Still, 
Johnny  Blossom  was  not  altogether  sure  that 
the  veranda  at  home  wasn't  just  as  pretty;  at 
any  rate,  it  was  pleasanter,  that  was  certain. 

Below  the  veranda  at  Kingthorpe  an  avenue 
of  nut  trees  stretched  a  long  way.  The  foliage 
was  so  thick  that  the  avenue  was  always  in  deep 
shade,  however  bright  the  day.  Not  a  sunbeam 
pierced  the  gloom,  but  far  down  at  the  end  of 
the  avenue,  something  shone  like  a  big  glittering 
eye.  That  was  the  sea  shining. 

The  whole  garden  with  its  crooked  old  trees 
and  newly  planted  young  ones  was  overflowing 
with  fruit :  big  and  little  pears,  red  apples,  yellow 
apples,  and  oh!  any  quantity  of  plums — yellow 
plums  bursting  with  ripeness,  great  juicy  blue 
plums,  and  those  sweet  ones  of  a  reddish  purple 
color.  Hurrah ! 

And  he  was  to  ask  every  one  he  wished  to! 
Hurrah  for  that,  too!  All  the  boys  in  his  class, 
of  course;  and  all  the  boys  in  the  next  higher; 
why,  yes,  and  those  little  fellows  in  the  class 
below.  And  Tellef!  And  Tellef  s  sisters  and 
mother  and  the  grandmother  —  she  could  see 
now  —  yes,  he  must  have  her.  Then  all  those 


JOHN  NTS  BIRTHDAY  PARTY  153 

old  women  at  the  almshouse.  And  the  work- 
men at  the  wharf  and  the  Works  —  they  must 
come  with  their  families. 

Mother  planned  everything  for  the  party. 
There  should  be  long  tables  in  the  park,  where 
the  feast  should  be  spread  for  the  children  and 
most  of  the  grown-up  people;  but  the  old  and 
feeble  ones  whom  Johnny  invited  should  have 
their  feast  in  the  beautiful  dining  room  that 
had  angels  painted  on  the  ceiling.  A  band  of 
music  was  to  come  from  the  city.  There  were 
to  be  flags  and  colored  lanterns  the  entire  length 
of  the  shady  avenue,  and  when  daylight  faded 
and  the  park  began  to  grow  dusky,  there  would 
be  fireworks  —  yes,  fireworks  as  true  as  you  live ! 
Mother  said  so. 

As  the  first  of  September  drew  near,  Johnny 
Blossom  could  scarcely  sit  still  a  minute,  he  was 
so  full  of  joy.  He  asked  if  he  might  not  go 
around  and  invite  the  guests  himself,  it  would 
be  so  jolly. 

"You  mustn't  forget  anybody,"  warned 
Mother. 

Far  from  it.  He  was  sure  he  would  remember 
every  single  one. 

First  he  went  to  Madame  Bakke,  who  lived 


154  JOHNNY  BLOSSOM 

nearest.  She  had  had  a  long  illness  and  was 
paler  than  usual  today.  Johnny  Blossom  put 
his  heels  together  and  bowed. 

"  I  want  to  know  if  you  will  come  to  a  party 
on  Saturday  at  Kingthorpe,  Madame  Bakke," 
said  Johnny. 

"What  do  you  say? "asked  Madame  Bakke. 

"It's  my  party,"  continued  John,  "and  I 
am  to  invite  as  many  as  I  please." 

"Well,  well!"  exclaimed  Madame  Bakke  in 
delight.  "Am  I  to  go  to  Kingthorpe?" 

"Yes,  and  there  is  so  much  sunshine  out 
there,"  said  Johnny.  "You'll  see  how  hot  the 
sun  is  on  the  white  marble  steps." 

"  But  I  haven't  any  fine  clothes,"  said  Madame 
Bakke. 

"Well,  of  course  you  must  look  nice,"  said 
Johnny  seriously,  "but  you  don't  need  anything 
fine.  Good-by,  and  welcome  to  the  party." 

Johnny  Blossom  bowed  himself  out  and 
Madame  Bakke  watched  him  as  long  as  he  was 
in  sight. 

Next  he  went  to  the  little  crippled  boy  who 
had  such  big,  mournful  eyes. 

"I'm  going  to  have  a  party  at  Kingthorpe," 
said  Johnny,  "and  I  want  you  to  come.  There 
will  be  lots  and  lots  of  yellow  plums." 


JOHNNrS  BIRTHDAY  PARTY  155 

"Is  that  so?"  asked  the  little  cripple. 

"You  may  chop  my  head  off  if  it  isn't/*  said 
Johnny.  "And  your  little  sisters  are  to  come, 
too;  only  they  must  have  their  faces  washed." 

"Can  I  eat  all  the  plums  I  want? "asked 
the  little  cripple. 

"Oh,  yes,  the  whole  garden  is  full." 

"Shall  I  come  now?"  asked  the  child,  smiling. 

"No,  it  is  next  Saturday." 

"That's  a  long  time  to  wait." 

"Oh,  well,  the  plums  will  be  all  the  riper." 

Away  went  Johnny  Blossom  to  Jeremias 
the  wood-cutter. 

"On  Saturday  you  must  come  to  my  party  at 
Kingthorpe,  Jeremias,"  said  Johnny. 

"Who  is  going  to  invite  me?"  inquired 
Jeremias. 

"Why,  7  invite  you,  you  see." 

"What  should  I  do  there?" 

"Oh,  eat  and  drink  and  have  fun.  If  you 
want  to  swing  in  the  big  swing,  for  instance, 
you  can  do  that." 

"Well,  now!  Perhaps  that  would  be  pleas- 
ant," said  Jeremias  the  wood-cutter.  "It  is 
handsome  of  you  to  invite  me." 

"I'm  inviting  all  my  friends,"  said  Johnny 
Blossom,  earnestly.  "You  must  wear  that 


156  JOHNNY  BLOSSOM 

light  coat  the  mayor  gave  you,  for  that  will 
look  nice,  you  know." 

Yes,  he  had  that  coat,  but  who  had  told 
Johnny  to  tell  him  to  wear  it? 

"I  thought  of  it  myself." 

Jeremias  wagged  his  head.  "I  tell  you, 
there's  something  to  a  boy  that  has  the  head 
to  plan  like  that." 

"You  will  be  very  welcome,  Jeremias,"  said 
Johnny  ceremoniously. 

Now  it  was  Katrina  the  dwarf  he  was  invit- 
ing. She  could  not  believe  at  first  that  she 
was  asked  to  a  party  at  Kingthorpe. 

"A  dwarf  like  me  would  not  be  wanted  at 
that  fine  place,"  said  poor  Katrina. 

"Yes,  indeed,  you  are  to  come;  you  must 
come.  There's  going  to  be  a  band  of  music  the 
whole  time." 

"Music?    Is  there  to  be  music?" 

"Yes,  and  awfully  good  things  to  eat." 

"Oh!  but  to  think  —  music!  It's  just  heav- 
enly to  listen  to  music." 

"  Well,  you  can  sit  and  listen  to  music  all  day, 
and  eat  plums  at  the  same  time." 

Johnny  prevailed;  poor  little  Katrina  agreed 
that  she  would  come. 

At  the  almshouse  all  the  old  women  gathered 


JOHNNTS  BIRTHDAY  PARTY  157 

in  the  hall  and  stared  at  Johnny  Blossom.  He 
looked  very  little  standing  among  them.  Indeed 
they  would  come,  all  of  them,  he  might  be  sure 
of  that. 

"But  why  do  you  invite  poor  old  folks  like 
us?"  asked  Olava. 

"Oh,  because  I  am  heir  of  Kingthorpe,  you 
know,  and  because  everybody  likes  to  go  to  a 
party." 

All  the  old  women  laughed,  and  Johnny 
said,  "Welcome  to  Kingthorpe,  then,  on  Satur- 
day," and  bowed  and  went  his  way. 

Later  he  invited  many,  many  children  from 
the  town  as  well  as  from  his  own  school,  and  all 
the  teachers. 

Oh,  it  was  wonderful!  wonderful!  Johnny 
Blossom  had  to  stand  on  his  head  in  the  grass, 
time  after  time  —  everything  was  so  unspeak- 
ably joyful ! 

At  last  the  great  day  came  and  the  weather 
could  not  have  been  finer.  The  gates  to  King- 
thorpe stood  wide  open  and  people  thronged 
inside.  The  flags  waved,  the  sunbeams  danced, 
and  under  the  old  trees  there  was  a  continual 
buzz  of  gay  talk  and  laughter. 

At  first,  however,  it  was  a  little  ceremonious. 
Johnny  Blossom  had  to  stand  beside  Father  and 


i$8  JOHNNY  BLOSSOM 

Mother  on  the  great  marble  steps  and  welcome 
the  guests.  He  was  rather  sober  and  felt  a 
little  shy.  Father  and  Mother,  too,  although 
they  smiled,  were  somewhat  serious.  Mother's 
eyes  even  had  tears  in  them. 

All  the  old  women  came  clambering  up  the 
steps  and  shook  hands  with  Johnny;  and  then 
Mother  took  them  into  the  drawing  room  and 
said,  "Please  feel  free  to  go  anywhere  you 
wish  about  the  house  and  to  look  at  every- 
thing." 

Gradually  the  great  rooms  were  filled,  the 
park  overflowed  with  children,  and  the  band  in 
the  walnut  tree  avenue  sent  everywhere  its 
strong,  rich  tones.  On  a  bench  near  the  band- 
stand sat  Katrina  the  dwarf  in  a  bright  red 
dress.  When  Johnny  Blossom  saw  her  he  ran 
to  the  garden  and  picked  as  many  plums  as  he 
could  carry  and  put  them  in  her  lap.  "  I  prom- 
ised you  these,  you  know,"  he  said. 

It  wasn't  long  before  there  were  children  in  the 
trees  everywhere,  shaking  the  branches,  throwing 
the  fruit  down  to  the  grassy  ground,  where  their 
fathers  and  mothers  sat  laughing  and  wondering 
at  everything.  To  the  children  it  was  all  like 
a  fairy  tale.  There  were  dances  and  games  and 
every  kind  of  jollity  under  the  stately  old  trees, 


JOHNNTS  BIRTHDAY  PARTY  159 

and  it  took  some  skill  to  get  the  people  to  their 
places  when  the  feast  was  ready. 

Long  tables  stood  in  rows  in  one  part  of  the 
park,  as  had  been  planned.  Father  presided 
here,  while  Mother  attended  to  John's  special 
guests  in  the  beautiful  dining  room.  Milla  the 
fishwoman  and  Olava  and  the  others  sat  stiff 
and  proper  on  the  edge  of  the  damask-covered 
chairs,  saying  not  a  word.  Tellef's  grandmother, 
however,  talked  fast  enough.  She  was  so  happy, 
now  that  she  could  see. 

"Ah,  me!  Ah,  me!"  said  she.  "It's  all  a 
miracle;  that  I  should  be  here  in  this  fine  room 
and  see  all  this  grandeur,  see  out  of  the  window 
where  the  sun  shines,  and  see  also  something  that 
shines  still  brighter  in  Johnny  Blossom's  eyes." 

The  old  people  strayed  through  the  house  up- 
stairs and  down.  They  looked  at  everything,  felt 
of  everything,  exclaimed  over  everything;  they 
ate,  and  put  into  their  pockets,  and  ate  again. 

Johnny  Blossom  ran  joyfully  around  every- 
where. He  was  not  still  two  minutes.  They 
all  wanted  to  see  him  and  called  to  him  from 
every  direction.  My,  oh,  my!  how  jolly  it  was 
to  be  the  heir  of  Kingthorpe ! 

When  the  feasting  was  over,  there  was  a  call 
for  silence.  It  came  from  Father,  who  stood 


160  JOHNNY  BLOSSOM 

again  at  the  top  of  the  marble  steps  and  was 
evidently  going  to  make  a  speech.  All  the 
children  flocked  together  near  the  steps,  in  the 
sunshine,  and  hundreds  of  childish  faces  were 
upturned  towards  the  speaker.  Behind  Father, 
on  the  veranda,  at  the  windows,  and  in  the  door- 
ways stood  John's  aged  friends,  among  them 
Katrina  in  her  bright  red  dress  and  Jeremias 
the  wood-cutter  in  the  mayor's  light  coat  that 
was  altogether  too  small  for  him.  Jeremias 
had  been  to  the  Kingthorpe  woodshed  the  first 
thing,  for  there  was  something  he  understood; 
but  now  he  had  stationed  himself  behind  Father. 
The  crippled  child  sat  on  the  lowest  step,  his 
pockets  stuffed  full  of  plums. 

John  had  to  stand  right  beside  his  father 
during  the  speech.  Every  word  could  be  heard 
even  by  those  on  the  edge  of  the  crowd: 

"Johnny  Blossom  had  permission  to  invite 
all  his  friends  to  Kingthorpe  today.  He  was  to 
ask  all  who  had  been  kind  to  him,  and  it  looks 
as  if  he  had  a  great  many  kind  friends.  This  is 
his  first  birthday  since  he  became  heir  of  King- 
thorpe. Perhaps  you  think  it  is  an  easy  thing 
to  be  that  —  that  it  means  only  to  shake  ripe 
fruit  into  your  lap  and  to  live  in  big,  bright 
rooms.  Johnny  Blossom  will  understand  more 


JOHNNTS  BIRTHDAY  PARTY  161 

and  more,  as  time  goes  on  and  he  grows  older, 
that  it  is  not  easy  to  be  the  Kingthorpe  heir. 

"  Do  you  ask  why  ?  Because  it  means  work  and 
responsibility.  For  what  is  all  this  that  you  see, 
house  and  garden,  park  and  farm,  but  a  loan  to 
be  accounted  for?  It  is  only  a  loan.  That  is 
why  it  brings  to  Johnny  Blossom  work  and 
responsibility.  He  must  remember  that  Uncle 
Isaac  did  not  give  him  all  this  to  use  simply 
for  his  own  benefit  and  pleasure  —  far  from  it  — 
but  for  the  good  of  others.  He  must  remember 
that  riches  bring  duties.  He  must  remember 
that  God  will  some  time  say  to  him,  'Johnny 
Blossom,  how  have  you  dealt  with  what  you 
received  as  a  loan  upon  the  earth?" 

It  was  very  solemn  and  impressive  to  have 
Father  say  all  this  about  him,  and  a  lump  came 
in  Johnny's  throat.  Father  paused  and  then 
continued,  speaking  more  emphatically: 

"Children,  you  are  all  heirs.  You  are  all 
heirs  to  God's  Kingdom.  You  all  have  work  to 
do,  responsibility  to  bear.  You,  too,  will  be 
asked  some  time:  'What  have  you  done  upon 
earth  ?  Have  you  been  loving  and  kind  ?  Have 
you  tried  to  do  what  good  you  could?'  The 
greatest  thing  is  to  be  loving;  but  you  know 
that  life  demands  from  us  not  only  love,  but 


162  JOHNNY  BLOSSOM 

truth  and  obedience  and  much  besides  of  which 
I  will  not  speak  now.  I  wish  only  that  from  this 
first  visit  to  Kingthorpe  you  should  take  home 
with  you  this  word:  You  are  all  God's  children, 
all  heirs  together  of  God's  Kingdom" 

Father  was  certainly  a  splendid  speaker. 
There!  they  were  shouting  hurrah!  Johnny 
joined  in  at  first,  but  soon  he  found  they  were 
saying,  "Hurrah  for  Johnny  Blossom!"  This 
was  embarrassing,  but  pleasant,  after  all. 

Again  the  company  scattered  throughout  the 
park.  This  was  the  time  for  the  sack-racing  and 
other  contests  in  jumping,  running,  and  singing. 
Father  gave  out  the  prizes,  and  then  refresh- 
ments were  served  again. 

The  sunbeams  slanted  more  and  more  and 
some  of  the  children  fell  asleep,  leaning  against 
their  mothers;  so  the  fireworks  began  earlier 
than  had  been  planned.  With  the  first  rocket's 
hissing  flight  the  children  awoke  and  shouted 
for  joy,  and  the  fireworks  hissed  and  sparkled 
and  flashed  —  red,  blue,  green,  yellow  —  above 
the  park. 

Finally,  the  whole  company  assembled  in  the 
great  white  salon.  The  children  sang  some 
beautiful  songs,  ending  with,  "  Yes,  we  love  our 
grand  old  Norway!"  Some  one  came  forward, 


JOHNNY'S  BIRTHDAY  PARTY  163 

elbowing  his  way.    It  was  Jeremias  in  his  tight 
coat. 

"  I  want  to  say  thank  you,  sir,  for  such  a  day 
as  this.  I'm  only  a  poor  man,  but  I  can  say  this 
much,  Johnny  Blossom  can  do  many  a  good 


turn"— 


Jeremias  seemed  to  have  no  more  to  say. 

Then  some  one  lifted  Johnny  Blossom  up. 
He  was  warm  and  red,  but  beaming.  "Come 
soon  again,  everybody!"  he  called  out. 

Little  by  little  the  room  emptied.  The  colored 
lights  shone  like  small  suns  along  the  dark 
avenues,  and  the  stars  twinkled  and  gleamed. 

In  the  tiny  bedroom  in  town  Johnny  Blossom 
laid  his  brown  head  on  the  pillow.  "Thank 
you,  dear  God,  thank  you,  thank  you,"  he 
murmured,  and  said  no  more,  for  he  was  over- 
powered by  sleep. 


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